Tortured Souls
by OnyxRiver
Summary: Michael Walsh is handsome, charming, dangerous, and not who he claims to be. When Laura's powers emerge, is she in danger, or will his love for her be stronger than his desire for power? Characters Sylar, Mohinder,Peter,Matt,Niki,Hana,Candice,HRG,Claude
1. Chapter 1

**Tortured Souls**

Part I: Laura

Laura Ryan awoke with a start. Her alarm did not go off. She had exactly one hour to get to work. She could not be late. Not today.

She quickly jumped out of bed throwing off her night clothes as she ran to the shower. No time for a long shower today. She quickly soaped and rinsed, grabbing her towel without washing her hair. She pulled her chestnut hair back from her face and headed back to the bedroom. "Now what in the hell am I going to wear?" She asked herself, her anxiety increasing.

She dashed back into the bedroom and stopped. She smiled and for the first time this morning she felt at ease. Her favorite dress was hanging up perfectly pressed ready for her to put on. Her shoes and undergarments were neatly placed on the bed. Beside her bed was a single white rose. She knew who her knight in shining armor was. Michael. Her love. The man who's simple touch could ignite fevered passion to her soul. "Now did he….?"

She was quickly brought back to reality by the ringing of her phone.

She answered quickly. "Hello".

It was her partner Greg. "Please tell me you didn't oversleep again!"

"Fine, I didn't over sleep again" She replied as she quickly began to dress. "Please tell me you remember it is your turn to get coffee".

"It will be hot and waiting for you doll. Now pry yourself away from your mysterious lover boy and get your happy ass down here now. The Linderman Group is not going to wait forever."

"Um….you seem to be forgetting the name of the company is Ryan and Associates and last I checked, I am Ryan and YOU are associates. I sign YOUR paycheck."

"I'm hanging up now before you fire me again."

"COFFEE!" Laura shouted as he hung up.

She quickly dressed, grabbed her satchel with her plans and headed for the BART Station. The train was right on time and if nothing greater than an earthquake happened, so would she. She settled down in her seat a caught her breath.

Her phone began to ring again. Thinking it was Greg, she became annoyed. "I wasn't kidding, if you call me one more time..."

"Hello my love." came Michael's gentle voice. She smiled. Even the sound of his voice soothed her raging adrenaline this morning. She closed her eyes and began to feel relaxed.

"I am so glad it's you." She began.

"Did you like your surprise?" He asked.

Laura smiled remembering how he rescued her this morning. "Yes…thank you! She replied softly. "You saved my life. I didn't even hear you come in."

"Well, didn't I tell you? I have powers beyond your wildest fantasies." He replied softly.

"I believe you." She laughed softly.

"I have been going crazy without you the last few days."

"I have too. Are you coming home tonight?"

"I wish I was my love. I'm off to Seattle today. I will be back tomorrow night."

"I haven't seen you in days."

"Well, you sleep well tonight because tomorrow night I don't plan on either of us getting any sleep."

She smiled at the thought of him. "I will be thinking of nothing else."

"I love you Laura." He said softly.

"I love you Michael." She smiled as she hung up the phone.

Laura snuggled down into her seat thinking of Michael. She could not believe he had come into her life such a short time ago, yet she loved him so completely. He was handsome, passionate, gentle and intense. Yet, there was something mysterious about him that intrigued her, but at the same time frightened her. She often felt deep anguish in his soul which soared every time she would bring up their future. He often had nightmares and woke up screaming. It pained her that she could not help him, but did not ask him his secret. The secret was his to tell and he would reveal what lied in his soul when he was ready. It was all she could do.

As she thought about her lover, she fell into a deep sleep.

But Laura was not alone. She was being watched. In the back of the train a dark man watched her intensely. Unnoticed by Laura, the mysterious man emitted a shadow of evil around him. His eyes were dark and piercing. His presence would infuse fear to Laura if she saw him. But in her sleep, she was unaware of his presence.

As the train went through a tunnel and everything went dark. When the train emerged from the tunnel, he was gone.

Laura woke up! As she realized what she had done, she began to panic! It was nearly 10:00! The presentation was over! She had fallen asleep and missed her stop. Why oh why did she let this happen? She picked up her phone and called Greg, but no answer. She dialed Tracey, she was not answering either. Laura was horrified!

She got off the train and caught the first train to the financial district. Their going to hate me! After all the work they had all put into this. These people had sacrificed their families and personal lives for this. This was the most important account of the year, probably ever! She had let them all down. She hated herself for doing this to them.

Finally she got to her stop. She ran the 3 blocks to her building. She ran to the elevator and did not stop until she burst through the double doors of Ryan and Associates.

Carol her secretary happily greeted her. "Laura, I didn't see you leave. Did you step out for some air? ".

She was confused, but managed a bewildered smile. Tracey came running down the hall and gave her a big hug. "You ROCK, girlfriend!! You did it!!! We just got Mr. Linderman's endorsement! They chose US! Can you believe it!!!" Laura stood there starring at her n disbelief.

"There she IS!" Came a voice behind her. Greg stood there with his hands on his hips! "You are the BOMB!!! It went even better than we had rehearsed!" He picked her up and swung her around. When he put her down, he noticed she was pale and out of breath. "You ok honey, you don't look so good?"

"Im fine." She said dryly. "Just a little drained."

"Well of course you are, girl!" Tracy said. "You only put on the best show of your life this morning. And between this project and that new hottie of yours I don't think you have slept in weeks. Why don't you go home and get some rest."

Laura stood there wondering what was happening. How could she of been there? She was sleeping on that train. It took all of her strength to focus on the moment.

"I would love to, but not today. I have a whole mess of calls and e-mails to return. I am just going to change into something less constricting and get to work. Don't worry. I plan on getting plenty of rest tonight." She turned to Greg. "Greg, can I talk to you in about 30?"

"You got it doll". He replied

Laura walked into her office and closed the door. She quickly changed into her favorite blue sweater, khakis and loafers. She sat down at her desk, puzzled. This could not be happening. She fell asleep! She was not at the presentation. She woke up on the train. What had happened this morning?

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a sharp knock on the door. Greg walked in. "Hey!"

"Hey!" She replied. "Sit down."

"Are you firing me again?" He asked.

"Don't be a jackass. I couldn't run this office without you. My dad hired you because you are an architectural genius. You make ME look good. Besides, you are my best friend." She sat down and picked up her coffee. "And if there was ever a time I needed you, it is right now".

"Are you actually having a crisis? Oh my GOD, this is a first. I was beginning to believe my talent as your gay male friend might be wasted on your stable, but adorable, ass. "

"ZIP IT!!!" She shouted at him. "You want a crisis? I have the Red Ryder of all crisises for you." She stood up and walked to the window. Looking out at the San Francisco Bay she continued. "Greg. I don't know how to say this, but I was not at that presentation this morning! "She turned around and looked at him. She became more agitated as she continued. "I was not there! Would you like to know where I was? I was sound asleep on the 8am train and woke up in Daly City at exactly 10 am."

Greg starred at her in disbelief. "What in the HELL are you talking about? Of course you were there!"

"Look, I don't have an explanation for you. I don't know who made that presentation, but it was NOT ME! I don't know what else to tell you, Greg. You KNOW I am not crazy. Please tell me you believe me."

He continued to stare at her in disbelief. "Um...if you're trying to humor me with a juicy life crisis, you didn't need to go to this expense." He stood up and walked toward her putting his hands on her shoulders. "Honey' he said quietly. "You were there, I saw you with my own eyes!"

"Greg, I was NOT THERE! I don't understand what is happening. But you KNOW me! I would not make something like this up!"

Greg continued to stare at her. He let go of her shoulders, walked over and sat down. "You know, If this was Tracey or anybody else, I would not believe it. But this is you. YOU...are not a drama queen. Your feet are firmly grounded on this planet. I know you would not make this up. But...Laura...this is…."

"I KNOW." She shouted excitedly. It is NOT possible. This is reality, NOT the Twilight Zone. All I know is that I was asleep on that train. But you all say I was there. Apparently I did a dazzling job. But I was NOT there, Greg!"

Greg thought for a moment. "Laura. This may be a stretch, but I remember reading some time ago about people, normal people, having super human abilities. You know, you could be one of these people. Not long ago there were reports about people seeing a guy flying across the Las Vegas desert."

"Ok, so...Las Vegas is home to an air force base and not far from Area 51. They run a lot of tests out of there. Nothing super human about it."

"There is if they guy didn't have a plane."

"A flying man." she laughed. "Do you know how illogical that sounds?"

Greg starred at her. "Of course I do. It is as illogical as a 27 year old woman being in two places at once?"

She stopped laughing and starred at him with disbelief.

She spent the remaining hours of the day speaking to clients and talking congratulation calls. She handled each call with grace and gratitude. She had gotten good at it, but she knew she would never be her father. George Ryan began the firm in 1984 when Laura was a small child. After her mother's death when she was 7 years old, it was just she and her father. Even as a young girl she took an interest in architecture. The firm and its clients had become family to them. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the business flourished. Her father had built his business on trust and integrity; qualities that were in high demand after many people lost their homes and businesses. The aftermath of the earthquake made Ryan and Associates the #1 architectural firm in the San Francisco Bay Area.

When George Ryan died three years earlier of a heart attack, the business went to Laura. Although Laura was not a businesswoman, she kept the business going for the sake of the people who had been loyal to her father for so many years. She felt a responsibility to the firm's clients and the community as they had for so many years. She knew the firm's continued success was due to the experience of her father's friends and associates who had been with the firm since it's infancy. These people worked and ran the business alongside her father. Gifted architects like Greg and Tracey and several others on staff kept them #1 in the community. Now with winning the Deveaux account, they would gain national exposure.

Laura looked up at a picture of herself on the wall behind her. It was a magazine which contained an article about young professionals in the bay area. They put Laura's picture on the cover telling the whole world that she was beautiful, bright…and single. The article touted her as being a mover and a shaker in the town. Who were they kidding? This was not who she was. Laura stayed with the company for no other reason but for the love of her father. She was only a name and a face. She was not the business. She knew the business could run without her. But many people would leave if she was not the CEO. So stay she did.

But deep down she had always known that she had another purpose to her life and someday she would leave. Her Karate instructor had always spoken to her about her destiny, never knowing what it was. As a child, she was convinced the old man was crazy, but lately she could feel herself being pulled away. Like an unseen force, it was always there, like a voice calling out to her soul.

It was after she met Michael, just a few short months ago that she felt the directional tug become stronger. Michael had opened up her eyes to a world she had never known. Life as she had always known it no longer gave her the same drive it once did. She wanted to be the woman Michael had awakened in his eyes.

Was it only just two months ago she had met him?

She was coming down the stairs of the Victorian apartment she inherited from her father. She came running around the corner just as he was coming up th other way. She plowed into him causing him to fall over, hitting his head on the hand rail dropping his box of belongings. She was horrified. She checked to make sure he was ok and helped him pick up his belongings. He was very sweet and offered to build her her very own stairwell for the safety of the other tenants. She laughed and helped him gather his belongings. "So, you're the new tenant. My name is Laura Ryan, I own this building."

"So when I wake up tomorrow and my collar bone is broken, I'll know where to send my lawyer."

She smiled at him. She was unable to take her eyes off of him. He was so good-looking and charming. The way he was looking at her, the attraction looked to be mutual.

"Well, will you call your lawyer off if I help you move in?"

He smiled. "Yes."

The rest of the afternoon, she helped him unpack boxes and put things away. He had such a sweet smile and an easy-going spirit. Right away they connected. He told her about moving his business from Chicago to San Francisco. Laura used her architectural design skills to help him figure out what to do with his new place. To show his gratitude he took her to dinner that night at the pub down the street.

Laura's attraction to Michael was instant. He had deep dark pools for eyes that seemed read her soul. He had a soft voice and an easy laugh. His sensual intelligence was intoxicating. They drank wine and talked for hours about everything. They stayed there until the restaurant closed.

As, they walked the short distance back to Laura's building, they quietly held hands. They did not speak. She wanted him and could feel his desire for her. As he walked her to her door, she leaned against the door; he stood in front of her. Their eyes met. He leaned toward her and reached out to touch her face. They melted into a sensual kiss. They continued kissing as she opened the door. As they headed toward the bedroom they began quickly undressing each other. They fell together on the bed, their souls soaring together. Their passion exploded with intensity that flowed like lava with every kiss. As they made love that night, their bodies erupted into a force of nature.

This was the first night of many. How could she love him so completely in such a brief frame of time? What was it about him that made her weak at the very thought of him? He was not the first man in her life; he was not even her first love. She knew so little of his life before he moved to the east bay. She knew he was from Chicago. He also was an only child and his parents had perished when he was very young. After college he went to work for an international trading company and a few years ago, he became an independent trader.

Laura was brought back to the present by the familiar sound of an instant message alert. She hoped it was from Michael and looked at the message with happy anticipation that quickly turned to alarm. She did not know the sender and was deeply troubled by the messages content.

**WIRELESS: Laura, I know you are there. You do not know me, but you need to listen to me. YOU ARE IN DANGER!**

**RYANASSOC2: Who are you? **

**WIRELESS: That is not important right now. We will meet soon. You have to get out now!**

**RYANASSOC2: Out of where? This building? The city? What are you talking about?**

**WIRELESS: Just run and keep running! Do not trust ANYBODY!**

**RYANASSOC2: Why?**

**WIRELESS: Laura, you do not know it yet, but you are special. You have a power that defines you. It is an important power and there is a man named Sylar who knows where you are. He wants your power. The only way to get that power from you is to kill you and take your brain.**

**RYANASSOC2: Are you kidding me? Who in the hell are you? Show me some proof.**

**WIRELESS: Have you had anything unusual happen recently.**

**RYANASSOC2: Why should I tell you?**

**WIRELESS: Laura, I can't tell you why now, but you HAVE to believe me! Sylar will kill you if you do not get out now. His trail has lead to your city. He will come looking for you and he will kill you! Please do as I say.**

**RYANASSOC2: Not until you show me proof. I am signing off now.**

**WIRELESS: YOU ARE MAKING A BIG MISTA**

But Laura did not read the rest of Wireless's message. She shut off her computer. But what if Wireless was telling her the truth? How could Wireless of known about what had happened to her today? She did not know what to believe. Yet she was afraid.

Laura quickly locked up the office and hurried to the BART station. Although she had studied martial arts since she was a child, and held a 3rd degree black belt, she was fearful. She did not feel safe. Suddenly she felt alone and vulnerable. Wireless's words haunted her. While she rode the train toward home she tried to call Michael, but he did not answer. When she arrived at the Oakland City Center station, she ran from the station to building near Jack London Square. She went inside and locked her door. She tried to call Michael, but he did not answer. Before she could leave a message, there was a knock at her door. She jumped and dropped her phone.

She looked through the peephole to see Greg standing there. She opened the door and let him in.

"I've been thinking about what you told me this morning all day..." He stopped and looked at her. She was pale and perspiring profusely. "Honey, what is wrong? You look horrified".

"I'll tell you about it later. Right now I just want a beer and a hot bath. What do you need?"

"I found this book today written by a man named Chandra Suresh." Greg pulled the book out of his bag. "He talks about people called Super Genomes. Normal people with powers like invisibility, cellular rejuvenation...FLYING. Laura, I think he is talking about YOU."

"Activating Evolution. Interesting. What does this have to do with me again?"

"Just read it Laura. At least take the book, ok?"

"Fine." She took the book from him annoyed. "Thank you. But I was serious that I REALLY need that drink and please don't take offense, I love you, but I want to be alone. So why don't you go home and call your Mr. Suresh and..."

"I already tried that...I spoke to his son. Chandra Suresh is dead." He continued. His son, Mohinder Suresh, is continuing in his father's work. He wants to talk to you, Laura"

Laura rolled her eyes. "It seems everybody wants to talk to me all of the sudden. So what happened to Mr. Suresh? Did he learn the hard way he couldn't fly?"

"He was murdered by one of his subjects. A man named Sylar who kills Super Genomes to get their powers."

There was that name Sylar again. The man Wireless had told her about. Laura felt like she was going to faint. "Ok, you know what, I REALLY need that drink now and I just want to go to bed. Go home. I'll see you tomorrow." She started pushing him out the door.

"I take it your lover is out of town again. Are you going to be ok?"

"There is enough security here to protect Fort Knox and I have a blackbelt. I'll be fine." She hugged and kissed her friend.

"You be careful. Call me in the morning".

"I will." She said shutting the door.

She lay in the bath tub drinking a bottle of Sol, letting the hot water caress her body while the candles lit the room. She closed her eyes and began to relax.

She was quickly jerked out of her relaxed state. She felt she was not alone. Terror began to consume her. She remembered what Wireless had told her about the man Sylar. She got out of the tub and pulled a towel around her. She tried to remember what her master had told her since she was a child; if she believed in her strength, she had nothing to fear. Yet, her heart pounded. She grabbed her baseball bat. If this Sylar was coming after her tonight, he would be in for a fight. She walked slowly toward the living room holding her bat cautiously in offense position.

"Who is there!" she called out. "Greg...Tracy?"

No answer.

"Show yourself!" She shouted angrily.

She turned toward the kitchen. She saw him standing in the shadows. He slowly walked toward her. He emerged through the darkness toward her. She was paralyzed with fear. Her heart pounded louder. But she stood ready for battle.

He took three steps in her direction. His face emerged in the light. There he stood. His dark eyes fixated on her. All she could do was stare in return.

"I have been waiting for you." He finally spoke.

She approached him, and stood face to face with him.

He reached his hand and pulled her to him into a fevered embrace, kissing her softly. She smiled returning his kiss.

"You scarred me to death". You said you weren't coming home until tomorrow night".

"If I had to stay away from you for another second, I was going to explode." He took the towel off of her and pulled her in kissing her hungrily. She began to undress him as she pulled him to the floor. "I love you Michael." She whispered.

End of Part 1


	2. Chapter 2

**Tortured Souls**

Part II: Michael

He was awakened by the sound of distant thunder approaching the coast. It was dawn, but the storm gave off an ominous darkness over the bay. The raindrops hitting the ocean made a hissing sound as they dropped. He closed his eyes again and the sounds dissipated.

He felt her heart beating against him while she lay cradled in the curve of his body. She fit exactly to him as though she was created to him. As she slept, he watched her. He wanted her again, but for now he would let her sleep. He carefully unwrapped himself from her, laying her back down against the pillows, gently kissing her shoulder.

In the living room, his clothes lay crumpled in the same spot they fell to the floor last night. He smiled remembering. With the lift of his hand, his clothes flew directly to him as if sucked through a high-powered vacuum. "You haven't lost your touch." He told himself smiling.

He dressed then slowly, thoughtfully walked over to the window. Folding his arms, he leaned against the wall. The sky was dark and looming as the storm he had heard over the ocean made its way inward. The lightening flashed in the distance. He waited for the thunder closing his eyes to block out the sound.

As he watched the darkness fill the waters of the bay, he thought of Laura sleeping in the next room. He closed his eyes sighing deeply. Yet again, the sadness began. He loved her beyond any power he possessed with a passion he never thought himself capable. He had always heard in music how a woman's face could bring a man to his knees. Until he met her, he never believed it possible, but every time he looked at her, that is exactly what happened.

She did not know that the man whose arms in which she lay was the devil himself. How many he had killed he did not know anymore. He could not remember all their faces, but sometimes at night when he was alone, he could hear their souls screaming. He was a despicable killer with a greedy addiction for power. The mere mention of his name instilled fear into the souls of those who knew of him.

He was the very essence of evil. His name was Sylar.

The real Michael Walsh was dead; he had killed him himself. With Mohinder Suresh, the Company and the FBI looking for him, he needed a place to hide. He took Michael Walsh's identity. And he had made it so easy for him. Michael was a loner and had no family. And lucky for Sylar he was moving to San Francisco. He had made arrangements to move his business. Michael's life was his for the taking. And there were so many people on Dr. Suresh's list living on the west coast. It was the perfect place to lay low for a while.

Michael Walsh had a power. The power of seduction. A power not deserved by such an unintelligent kind. Sylar watched him for several weeks before making his move. He spent his evenings at bars luring in cheap women. "What a fool." He thought to him self. Posing again as a genetics expert, Sylar took Michael into his confidence. It disgusted him how such an extraordinary power was wasted on such a stupid man. On the night he killed him, Sylar asked him about his penchant for horribly cheap women.

"Your power is amazing." He told him one night. "There is not a man alive who would not want your power. Why do you waste it on women who get paid by the hour when you can have any woman in the world?"

"Are you kidding man?" He replied. "Look at them! The tight dresses and high heels! That's for me!"

"But would you want to have sex with a whore," he asked him. "when you can make love to a goddess?"

"Look my friend; you can keep your goddess's. And I'll just keep the sassy ladies for myself." And he was off.

Sylar shook his head in disbelief as he watched him. He could do so much more with that power. It was such a detestable waste of an incredible power. And Sylar would be too happy to take it from him.

For Sylar, this power made him completely irresistible. Not a soul could refuse him. This very proved lucrative to him not only perusing his victims, but for Mr. Walsh's bank account. He knew nothing about being a trader, but thanks to his new found power and a gift he took from a waitress in Texas, the world belonged to him. Michael Walsh's life was his for the taking and Sylar could move about the world under the radar.

And then he met her.

He did not come into her life to love her; he came to kill her. As all of his victims, she meant nothing to him but a name on the list. Her power had not evolved when he found her. She was unaware that she possessed a gift that made her special from the rest of the world. Just like that waitress in Texas, the musician in Virginia, the artist in New York City and so many others. He did not know anything about them. He did not care. They had a gift, and Sylar took no prisoners.

So he would lie in wait. And he found the perfect place; right down the hall of the Victorian apartment building she owned in Oakland, CA. To watch closely, unseen and when the moment struck, he would kill her, making her power his.

But she did see him.

Had she not caught him with his guard down; conceivably he would have stuck with his plan. But when she caught his eye, he starred in disbelief. She was the most beautiful creation he had ever seen. She had wavy chestnut hair that hung halfway down her back, startling green eyes starring out from her soul, possessing him immediately. His heart sank when he realized this was the woman he had come to kill.

This would have been a good time for him run away to leave her there in the moment, keeping her safe from him forever, but it was too late. He loved her from the second he saw her; there was no turning back.

They spent the rest of the day together and that night in intense passion. She stirred his soul in a way he never thought possible. He remembered lying there holding her, his heart on fire, unable to believe she was real. He trembled profusely and she put the blankets around him, kissing him and stroking his hair.

She was somewhat embarrassed. "I really don't want you to think I always do this."

"Do what?" he asked her teasing. "Fall into bed with men you have only known for….ummmm" He looked at the clock. "six hours?"

She smiled in disbelief. "Six hours…how could I…."

"How can you fall wildly in love with somebody in less than a day, but feel like your soul has known her forever?" He whispered.

"Yes." She whispered softly. " Are you going to be in my life, Michael?"

"If you'll take me." He gently kissed her forehead.

He was answered when she once again kissed him and the night again exploded in passion.

Back to the present, as he stood there a tear slowly rolled down his face. He knew she was not his forever as she thought he would be. This was the hell he had created for himself. He would do anything he had to do to protect her. Even from him.

If Laura had a power, she was not aware. But someday her power would manifest. Would he be able to stop himself from killing her? Would his unquenchable lust for power be stronger than his intense love for her? Why didn't he run away after that first night he made love to her? He would rather she believe he had used her for his own pleasure than ever know the reality; he was a merciless, cold-blooded killer.

Standing there watching the rain, more tears spilled down his face. He despised what he had become. More than anything he wanted to be the man she thought he was. She wanted him by her side forever, to bare his children. Of course she wanted these things. He had deluded her that he could give her this life. But fate had dealt its spiteful hand and someday she would know the truth.

It was then that he could feel her behind him. Her arms were around his waist and she playfully snuggled against his back. As he turned toward her, he gently smiled and pulled her in close to him. For a moment he held her and everything felt right. She pulled back and ran her hand down his face where the tears had fallen earlier. Smiling sadly, she gently kissed him.

This was not the first time she had seen him this way. She was always kind and tender, but she never asked him his thoughts.

She took his hand and led him to the couch. He sat down and pulled her across his lap holding her to him. For a moment, they sat quietly. Finally he spoke.

"You're up early. I thought you were going to go in and train this morning".

"I am." She replied. "Thanks to YOU I didn't sleep too well." She slapped him playfully making him smile. "And when I woke up, I wondered where you were."

"I couldn't sleep either. I didn't want to wake you."

He hated to lie to her. The truth was that he rarely slept anymore. His mind was always racing and since he had met her he was trying to keep the pretense up as keep her beside him as long as he was able.

He continued. "You're quiet this morning." He gently stoked her hair. "Are you ok"?

Thoughtfully she spoke. "I'm not sure. I had something strange happen yesterday…twice."

He quickly opened his eyes, his heart sinking. "I'm intrigued. What happened?"

"You are going to think I am absolutely crazy…." She told him the story about falling asleep on the train while somehow being at the meeting with the Linderman group, Wireless's message and about the man named Sylar that Wireless warned her about.

She continued. "I mean, why would he want to kill me?" She looked at him. "I am not anybody special…I don't have any _powers _or special abilities."

But he did not hear the last part of the conversation. His heart was pounding in his chest and his pulse was racing. He wanted to turn and run right then.

"Michael!" She startled him out of his thoughts. "Have you even heard anything I said in the last 5 minutes?"

He looked at her quickly. "I'm sorry…I'm just trying to wrap my mind around all of this. But you have to understand it is …"

"Crazy?" She prodded him. "I know. If somebody told me this story, I would think they were on crack. But I would not make this up, Michael."

"Of course not." He said holding her. "I know you are telling me the truth, but Laura…this is huge. And you're telling me somebody is trying to kill you? That's it! I am moving in tonight and I am not leaving you alone anymore." He picked up the phone.

"No. I don't want you to do that." She said firmly.

He hung up. "What? I don't get it. It's not like we haven't been talking about this for the last 2 months."

"And we both agreed that we aren't ready to move to that level yet. And I am not going to let somebody that for all I know is pulling a prank on me force me to take a step we aren't ready for."

He looked dejectedly at her. "You don't want me to move in here?"

She walked over and put her arms around him. "Not until it is _our _decision."

He thought for a moment. He took a deep breath. Inside he was painfully dying.

"Your right." He finally said. "But don't think I am not going to be here with you every night and I am not leaving town until this is all figured out."

She smiled. "I am counting on it! Now you have to go and so do I." She kissed him and shoed him toward the door. He protested, but did as she asked.

When he reached the door, he embraced her, kissing her softly. "You know I love you more than my own life and I would die myself before I let anything happen to you."

"I know." She smiled. "Just promise me you will always be here."

"I promise to do everything in my power to be with you until the day I die."

"I am going to hold you to that."

Again they kissed and he left her there.

At first he walked inside his apartment, and quietly shut the door. Then, the tears began to fall and the anguish arouse from the very pit of his core.

He walked through the room, his belongings flying off the shelves shattering to the floor. He walked out on the balcony, lifted his arms and arose from the ground taking him high above the storm. He came to a stop in a storm cloud and began to rage inside the thunder. He screamed and cursed until he had nothing left.

As he came back down, he walked back inside. He lifted his hand and moved his belongings back to their shelves.

He walked over to his desk and opened a drawer, pulling out a file that said Hana Gitelman. Inside was a picture of a beautiful dark haired woman, but Sylar did not care about her. His voice was evil and menacing as he spoke. "I should of killed you when I had the chance, WIRELESS. If you come here looking for me and take Laura away…I won't make the same mistake twice."

End of Part II


	3. Chapter 3

1Tortured Souls  
Part III – Training Day

The 11am Metro bus traveled towards the Haight-Ashbury district. Laura loved this part  
of town. It is rich with history and culture which lives on to this very day. Today, she  
was not a CEO, an architect or even Michael's girl. None of her worldly assets meant  
anything where she was going.

With her legs folded comfortably under her, she sat listening to her iPod. She closed her eyes and once again drifted off to sleep. In her dreams, she saw a dark man who frightened her deeply, yet she found herself wanting to go to him. He reached out his hand to her, calling to her. Slowly she began to walk toward him, mesmerized. An evil breeze blew against her skin and through her hair. Powerless, she was unable to stop. He had her in a gravitational pull. There was no fighting him; she didn't want to. His eyes were dark and foreboding. She felt fearful, yet she wanted him.

Then out of the darkness there came a brilliant light. Covering her eyes she could  
scarsley see, shielding herself from its brightness. Turning to the darkness, the man was gone. Laura was on her knees. She heard a man's voice calling to her from the light. "Laura! Stand up!" The voice commanded her.

Standing up, she looked down at herself; she was in warrior dress. The voice  
continued. "You have a mission. It is your fate, Laura. You are the only one." She could barely make out the man's shape. He reminded her of Kiyoshi Yamigati, but many years younger.

"Who are you?" She shouted at the voice. "What is this mission? And what do you mean I am the only one?" But he was gone.

Startled, she heard Michael's voice behind her. "Laura. You must open your eyes...  
NOW."

"Michael..."

"Laura. Please trust me. You need to open your eyes."

She awoke with a start! She looked around and something was not right. The bus was pulled over and the passengers were crying and looked horrified. There were emergency vehicles outside the bus which had come to a stop just inches from the entrance of an elementary school and the driver was being taken out on a stretcher. Laura stood up and walked forward. And elderly woman stood in front of her and put her hand on her shoulder. There were tears in her eyes. "Today is my 83rd birthday." She spoke half crying. "I thought today would be my dying day. " She sobbed and hugged Laura. "If it wasn't for you the bus would have crashed into that school and all of us would be dead. You are an angel! God bless you." She whispered. Again Laura found herself at a loss. She managed a smiled and touched the woman's shoulder then continued her way to the front of the bus. As she stepped off the bus, many of the passengers applauded her. She went over to the driver. He was unconscious, but the  
paramedics had him on oxygen. She found one of the paramedics. "Is he going to be ok?" She asked.

The paramedic looked at her. "It looks like he will be fine, thanks to you. You saved the day, little lady. His family will be grateful." Laura just smiled. "Thanks. What happened to him?"

The paramedic looked puzzled. "Well Miss, I am sure you know he had a heart attack. If you didn't stop that bus and give him CPR everybody on that bus and many of these school children would be dead. You are a hero young lady!"

Standing there, she could hear vehicles coming from behind her. News crews started  
arriving on the scene. "You stay there." The officer told her. "The reporters will want  
to talk to you." And he left.

The news teams started buzzing around and she began to panic. The last thing she needed in her life right now was to be in the spotlight. She had to get out of there quickly. The dojo was just two blocks away. Grabbing her duffle bag, she ran away from the commotion unseen by onlookers. Let it be a mystery forever who saved the day. She told herself she would call and check on the man later.

As she stood in front of the dojo, she knew she had to put the last two days events out of her mind. Closing her eyes, she took deep, cleansing breaths. As she stepped through the door, she left the outside world behind her.

Laura walked into the dojo and set down her duffle bag. She stood with her arms at her side and bowed to the building. "Oise!" This was a Japanese idiom meaning push and perseverance. She walked into the women's locker room and changed to her black Gis. She pulled her hair back walked to the mat.

Standing there; eyes intent and focused. The Laura who walked through the door was not there. In the moment, she was a warrior. Approaching the mat, she bowed to her master. "O Kyoshi" She bowed (this was a term of respect to her master). He bowed in return.

He walked back and forth in front of her.  
"HUT!" He shouted.

She slapped her arms to her side at attention.

"What is the student creed, Renshi?"

She shouted, completely focused. "As a dedicated student of the martial arts, I will live by the principals of the black belt. Modesty, courtesy, integrity, courage, perseverance and indomitable spirit."

"What's our Goal?"

"Black belt excellence, Sir!"

"How do we lead?"

"By example Sir!"

He walked to the center of the mat.

"Call your fight." He commanded her.

"Weapons, Sir!"

From behind his back, he pulled out a samari sword. "KIA!" He shouted. Anticipating his swing, Laura did a back flip and quickly recovered. He came at her again, but this time she was ready with her bo. As his sword came down upon her she blocked him in mid air. She did a gyration to the left and picked up a sai. When his sword came toward her once, she hooked his sword and flipped it away from him. Before she could take victory he spun around and knocked the sai from her hand. He picked it up and came at her. She spun around in a flying scissor kick temporarily disabling him. He recovered but not before she picked up the nunchakus swinging at him. He grabbed the ends of the nunchakus flipping her over. She recovered in mid-air and landed on her feet doing a double backflip to get away. She picked up the samari sword and ran toward him shouting. He was waiting for her with a bo which he swung at her legs. She jumped in the air and landed on her feet kicking the bo from his hand and knocking  
him over. She put her foot on his chest. "KIA!" She shouted as she brought down her sword on him, stopping just short of his head.

Laura stepped aside and helped him to his feet. Kyoshi Yamagati bowed to her and she bowed in return. "Impressive. The student has beaten the master".

"This time." She smiled breathlessy. "You'll be ready for me next time."

"This is the second time you have beaten me this month. Most of my students go through a lifetime and never beat me. You are most powerful, Renshi. Soon, your time will be upon you."

"Ok, about that." She said. "Are you ever going to fill me on what 'this time' is you keep talking about?"

"When the time is right, I will tell you. The time is not right." 

For a moment she thought about his words and what had happened to her today and yesterday. "Mr. Yamagatai, do you feel like going for a walk?"

He turned and smiled at her.

Although Laura had beaten him today, Mr. Yamagati was rarely beaten. He was 68 years old and every bit as fit as he was the day Laura came to him almost 20 years ago. She remembered like it was yesterday when he first put the white belt around her waist. On that day he told a white belt is a black belt that never quit. Laura vowed that day to never stop reaching for her goals. She fought hard for the prize and remembered with pride the day when she was twleve years old, standing in that same spot where a shy and frighten child had stood just five short years ago, he tied the blackbelt around her waist. As she bowed to him, she recalled seeing a tear in his eye that day.

Laura always knew she was special to Mr. Yamagati and he was special to her as well. When her mother died, he did not allow her to loose sight of her purpose. He made her take her pain and put it into her fight. A few years ago when her father died, again he was there for her. She had inherited her father's company at the age of 24. She knew how to be an architect, but she knew nothing about running a company. She was angry at her father for leaving her in this position. Again, he made her use her rage and instead of allowing it to consume her, he helped it empower her. There were days she wanted to quit, but he always propelled her forward. He became a second father to her and she loved the old man dearly.

Today Mr. Yamagati could sense Laura was troubled. In their street clothes they walked to Golden Gate Park. Laura came here often to think and meditate. Mr. Yamagati came here often with her to help her sort things through. Outside of the dojo, they were not student and teacher. They were equals is what Mr. Yamagati always told her, but Laura could never see herself as his equal.

"Why are you troubled, Laura?" He asked her.

"I don't know if you would believe me if I told you, Sir." She said thoughtfully.  
"I might surprise you. Please. Tell me"

Laura told him about how she had fallen asleep while seeming to be elsewhere. She told him about the train yesterday and the bus today.

Mr. Yamagati did not look surprised.

"Laura, I have never kept it a secret from you that you are special. Even as a young child I could sense greatness from you. You were strong even then. Something has always told me that someday you would have powers that I could not begin to understand. A time is coming in your life and without knowing when that time will be; I have been preparing you for it."

He turned and looked over the hill below them.

He continued. "I have never known what this power would be; only that it would set you apart. But I do know this." He turned and looked at her again. "A power is only as strong as its possessor. You must respect it like your elders and nurture it as you would a child. It is a fine edge sword that separates the world of good and evil. There is darkness and there is light, but there are many elements that separate the two extremes."

He turned and looked at her again. "Your mother was also special. She was trained by my father and then by me." Laura looked shocked. He noticed, but continued, taking a deep breath. "Laura, I am going to tell you something right now that I never felt you were prepared to understand, until now."

She listened quietly.

"What I am going to tell you is going to change your life forever. You must tell me if you ready." He asked her.

"Yes, I am ready." She replied.

Kiyoshi Yamagati looked her deep in the eyes.

"You did not come to me by accident all those years ago. Your mother brought you to me to make you strong. Stronger than she was." He continued. "Your mother was a very powerful woman, but she chose to live a life devoted to her family. She could feel from the moment you were born that you were special and she felt it was her place to nurture you into the amazing woman you have become. She raised you to be worthy and deserving of your legacy.

She stood up and approached him. "What was my mother's ability?"

"Your mother was a warrior, as you are. She never confided in me her abilities. She hid them away when you were born. She only confided in me her desire for me to help you be strong in your power."

Standing before her, he continued. "After your mother passed away, your father   
brought this to me with instructions to give to you when you were ready."

"My father knew about this?" Laura asked surprised.

"Your father was one of the finest men I ever knew, Laura." He continued. "He loved you and your mother and everything he did in his life was for his girls are what he always told me."

She smiled remembering her father.

"But your father was a practical man. He worked hard and he believed in things he could see and feel and understand. But he also believed in your mother, and he believed in your destiny. He left his worldly assets to you, but he always knew you were destined for something more. "

"The time for you to know your destiny has come." He pulled a velvet bag containing an idol out of his back pack and handed it to her.

Laura took idol and studied it. "It is just statue. It doesn't look very powerful."

"A few days ago, you didn't think you were powerful. You thought you were just   
another body occupying the planet, but now you have learned you are someone  
special."

"Point taken. But what do I do with it."

"This Talisman has been in your family for centuries. When you unlock its mystery, you will receive its power. But when you take it home, do not show it to anyone. You will have your answers at exactly the right time and not a moment before."

On the ride home, Laura remembered what Kiyoshi Yamagati had told her. She held the talisman tight in her hand remembering his warning.

"So what secrets lie within you?" She studied the talisman closely. There were no  
openings. She tapped it, but there was only solidness.

The beeping of her blackberry startled her out of concentration. The message was once again from Wireless.

WIRELESS: Why didn't you leave town?  
5107845578: How in the hell did you get this number?

WIRELESS: I have a power, just like you do, Laura.

5107845578: I told you I want proof! You have to give me something to confirm.

A video appeared on her screen of a news report about the bus accident and about the mysterious woman who saved the bus driver and disappeared before the TV cameras got there.

When the news report was over, there was a video of her walking into the dojo from its security cameras all the way to the end of her session with Kiyoshi Yamagati.

WIRELESS: Now do you believe me?

5107845578: Where are you?

WIRELESS: Get off at the next stop?

5107845578: How do you know where I am?

WIRELESS: Get off at California and Battery. I am on the corner.

As she got off the bus, she saw a dark haired woman she guessed to be of Israeli descent about her age standing under a green awning looking at her.

Laura approached her cautiously. "Wireless, I presume?" She asked, arms folded.

"My name is Hana Gitelman, Laura." She smiled. "Let's go find somewhere we can talk privately."

"My office is around the corner. We can talk there."

A few moments later, they were seated in Laura's office. She called Carol and asked to not be disturbed and to hold all of her calls.

"Do you want anything?" She asked her new friend. "Water, coffee?

"Im fine, thank you." Hana replied.

"Ok." She began. You have fifteen minutes to convince me you are not a mental  
patient, and you can start by telling me who you are."

Hana sat motionless and looked right at Laura. "It is not who I am that is important. We will save that for another time because you are only giving me 15 minutes."  
"Fair enough." Laura replied. "So, you say you are like me, you have a power. What is your power?"

Hana took a deep breath. "I am able to send and receive electronic media by just  
thinking about it. Text messages, e-mail, instant messages."

"Prove it." Laura challenged. 

Laura's computer gave off an instant message alert.

WIRELESS: Are you sold yet?

Laura was shocked. "How did you..." Before she could finish, her blackberry rang. She had a text message.

WIRELESS: How about now?

Laura looked at her amazed.

"Check your e-mail." Hana told her calmly.

"It's ok. I believe you."

"Check it." Hana repeated.

"Ok, I'll bite." Laura opened up her e-mail program. As was promised, there was an e-mail containing a photo of her and Greg talking in her office from the day before.

"Ok Hana, you have my undivided attention." Laura told her.

"Are you sure? Because I can tell you details about some of your intimate phone  
conversations and e-mails with Michael that would make a sailor blush."

Laura was angry now. "That's private!"

"I don't listen in. Its just there."

"Ok. So...what do you want?"

"Laura, I know you have only just discovered your power. But what you don't know is that there are many people in the world that have powers. Some can fly, some can heal themselves, some can heal others; the list is very long. I also know that you are special even among the special. I know you will one day receive a power that will give you powers the rest of us can only dream of.  
"Ok." Laura interrupted. "So, this is getting boring. I know all this. Now tell me what you want from me or I am going to have to ask you politely to leave?

"I do not want anything from you. I am here to warn you! You cannot let Sylar find you."

"Yeah, you mentioned that last night. So, who is this Sylar, and why does he want to kill me?

"Open your e-mail again." Hana told her abruptly. "I don't wish to frighten you, but you need to know what you are up against. You need to be afraid."

Laura tried to prepare herself, but there was no preparing herself as a picture of a young woman just about her age with her head opened up and her brain missing. She was horrified.

"Oh My God!!!! Who could do this?"

"The crowned prince of evil and deception. He was born with the name Gabriel Gray, but the Super Genome population knows him as Sylar. He has the ability to extract powers by taking the brains of his victims".

Laura felt naucious. "And...what does he do with the brains once he gets them?"

"There are those who believe he ingests them." Hana said dryly.

Looking sickened, Laura turned to her. "You...mean...he EATS them?"

"That is the belief of some."

"And why do you think he is coming after me?"

"Well, he has been quiet for a while." She continued. "He committed four murders just over 2 months ago, and he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. The murders were in Chicago, Cheyenne WY, Boise Idaho, and Elko Nevada. It is believed he has assumed the identity of one of his victims and is hiding out from the authorities. He has been spotted in San Francisco and the east bay."

"How would I even know him if I saw him."

"Well, that is a big problem. His file has been stolen, most likely by him. His photos are missing from the FBI mainframe and there are no photographs for me to show you."

Laura was becoming frightened. A man could be coming to kill her and she did not know what he looked like even. "Why haven't they caught him?"

"He was in captivity briefly, but his captors underestimated his powers and he  
escaped. He knows how to hide and blend in."

"So, how would he know where to find me? "

"Because he got a copy of the master list of super genomes from Dr. Suresh and you are on that list."

"Ok, lets just say I believe your story. If I am a super genome, and there are hundreds of us, then I am likely not the only one living on the west coast. What makes you think he is going to come for me and not for another person on the list?"

Hana looked troubled. "You are correct that there are others. We can't help them all."

Laura turned to her shocked. "What do you mean you can't help them all. Of course you can!" She looked her directly in the eye angrily. "There is a killer out there and you have prior knowledge of what he is capable of and you're just going to sit back and not even try and warn them?"

"It is not that I don't understand how you feel this way Laura, but you have to believe me when I tell you it's not that simple."

"Not that simple?" Laura nearly shouted. "Yes! It is that simple! You pick up the phone and call them."

Hana looked intently at Laura. "I contacted you last night. What did you do?"

Laura remembered the instant message from Hana from the night before. "I…told you I thought you were out of your mind and I…closed my computer off."

Hana half smiled. "Now your getting the idea."

Laura sighed, closing her eyes. "Ok...ok, your right. I understand. But why did you come to me?"

Hana smiled. "Because, as I said Laura, of all the people on that list you could very well be the most important. We believe you are the only one that will be able to kill Sylar." 

Laura spun around shocked. "Are you freaking kidding me?" She nearly screamed. "You are telling me there is this psycho killer running around, maybe even coming after me, and you somehow think I am going to be able to have the skills to kill him. Let's leave the fact out of it for now that I have no idea what he even looks like. And what makes you think I can kill him? As far as I know the only power I have is the ability to be in two places at once. I am a four degree Black Belt, but if this guy is slicing up people's heads like this, frankly I don't think either of these talents are going to help me."

Hana stood up and walked to her putting her hand on her shoulder. "Laura, I know this is a lot to absorb. Just a few days ago, you knew nothing of this power. And now your whole world has changed."

Walking in front of her, she looked her direct in the eye. "But Laura, you are a part of something very special. Embrace it; do not let it frighten you. When you embrace it, the fear will be gone and you will know what you have to do."

Tearfully, Laura walked to the window and looked out. She continued to speak.  
"Look, it's not that I don't want to help you. But you got the wrong girl. Maybe I am strong like you say I am, but to come here and tell me today that I am the savior of thousands from this" she pointed to the image of the woman with her head sawed open. "monster. I won't do it."

Turning toward Hana, she continued. "And, since you have been hijacking the personal details of my life, then you know there is somebody I love deeply. And he loves me too. So I hope you can understand that I am not just willing to put myself or him in harms way. I am going to spend the rest of my life with this man and have his children. So Hana, I am afraid you are just going to have to find yourself another rescuer because I can't help you."

Hana was dejected. She smiled sadly at Laura. "Just please promise me you will think about what we talked about. Please Laura."

Laura walked over and opened the door. "There is nothing to think about." She said firmly. "We're done here."

Hana had her answer. She walked through the door. She looked back at Laura once again. Laura shut the door.

Hana left the building and stood outside for a moment. She took an envelope of photos out of her pocket. There were several photos of Laura with Michael.

"Now how do I tell her the love of her life is really Gabriel Gray. She is in love with Sylar."

**End of Part III**


	4. Chapter 4

**Tortured Souls  
**Part IV – Loss of Conviction

Standing at the bottom of the steps, Laura looked up at the three flights of stairs she had to endure, wondering why her father never thought to put in an elevator.   
Exhausted, she began her ascent upward. As she walked through the door, Michael was working in her kitchen. She giggled at the sight of him.

"You….in the kitchen? Please! You can barely boil water!" She laughed.

He smiled slyly. "I told you I hold powers that will shock and astound you".

"You already do that without any powers." She walked over embracing him. She began to kiss him while trying to get him undressed, but he reluctantly pushed her away.

"We have the whole night and the rest of our lives." He laughed. "But right now you are going to go in and take a shower and change your clothes." He pointed to his attire of pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt. "And as you can see, it is black tie tonight."

"Do I really need a shower?" she asked.

"Yes." He firmly teased her. "You're all sweaty and you smell like a locker room."

"I thought you liked it when I got sweaty." She smiled and began to kiss him again.

"No, I like it when I make you sweaty!" He playfully pushed her away. "Now GO!"

"You be here when I get back." She ordered him.

"And when you get back, I am all yours." He said mysteriously.

"I am counting on it." Smiling, she shut the door.

A few minutes later, she emerged from the bedroom and stood in the doorway. He stopped what he was doing and starred at her for a moment. Her hair was wet from the shower and she wore a black tank top and gray yoga pants. Hardly anything sexy or provocative, but as he looked at her his insides stirred like wildfire. She was by far the most incredible woman he had ever seen. She filled his every need. If he had met her before his nightmare as Sylar was forged in blood, he would still be living his life as Gabriel Gray. "And she would smile and be nice, but you wouldn't have a chance in hell of scoring with her." A voice inside taunted him.

"Are you ok?" She looked at him puzzled, breaking him out of his trance. "You look like you aren't feeling well."

"Yeah. I'm just falling in love all over again." He smiled thoughtfully. "Come on, sit  
down." He commanded her.

"I like it when you get bossy." She smiled flirtatiously.

"Well, tonight I work for you." He headed over to the couch carrying a plate with an assortment of fruit, cheese and bread he had cut up and two bottles of beer.

She began to sit down. "Not yet". He sat down and pulled her to him so she was sitting between his legs. "You are going to relax, and I am going to feed you." He fed her a piece of banana.

She snuggled deeply against him. "Did I do something special today? I have the  
sexiest man on the planet feeding me."

He kissed the back of her head putting another bite in her mouth and she nibbled his finger. He smiled pulling her in tighter.

"You don't do anything special. You just are special." He stroked her head, pausing a moment. "The day I saw you, my life finally had a purpose. If you hadn't knocked me over, I might have passed right by you. But you did and in the same instant you captured my heart. I haven't told you this before, but there were not a lot of women in my life before I met you, Laura. I wasn't always the man you know. I used to be…" He closed his eyes. "I knew less of the world and of myself. Before I met you, my life was spiraling out of control. I have done so many things I am not proud of. If you knew the details of some of the acts I have committed….." He choked back tears. "The irony of this is that if I had stayed in that irrelevant, lifeless existence, you never would have loved me. You have a kind heart and you would of said hello if you passed me on the street, or even spent time talking to me if you had come into my shop. But if I had asked you out or…" Closing his eyes he sighed. "I don't' know. Maybe whatever you see in me now was there, it just hadn't awakened in me yet." Wiping his eyes he continued. "You are the only person in this life I have ever loved." He whispered stroking her hair. "There is nothing more I want in the world than to be beside you forever. To marry you…." He smiled sadly. "Have a family, like we talked about. But I will never be able to give you those things. I would give up everything, every power I  
have, to always be with you, but…" The tears flowed again. "This is the hell I have forged myself. To finally have that one thing in my life that would have made all the difference." Sighing deeply. "Someday soon, for your own good I will have to leave you. But you will find love again. You will have the family and all the things I wanted to give you, but I can't. But I hope you know that no matter how long I live, I will never stop loving you. You will burn in my heart until the day I die and I will always protect you. It will always be you, Laura."

Realizing what he had just said, he looked at her for a reaction. She did not answer him. Exhausted, she had fallen asleep. He smiled tenderly; relieved she did not hear him. Extending his hand he gently levitated her up and he climbed off the couch, and then lowered her gently. He covered her with a blanket and kissed her forehead.

Picking up the plates, he turned toward the kitchen, but was quickly taken aback. He saw Laura sitting at the table looking at a small statue, as if she was trying to figure it out. He turned and looked at her still lying on the couch where he had just left her. He touched her arm; she was solid as she was a moment ago, sleeping soundly. He slowly approached her sitting at the table, and carefully reached out and touched her arm. She was as real as her other manifestation. He dropped one of the plates. She turned with a start.

"Are you ok?" He could only stare at her. "Baby, what's wrong?"

He pointed at her still lying on the sofa. Laura turned, seeing herself on the sofa  
caused her to gasp in shock. Suddenly she disappeared in the very instant she jumped from the couch wide awake.

"Holy shit!" She shouted in what he could only describe as horrified amazement!  
"Michael! Did you see that?"

"Yeah". He managed to say finally. "I saw that."

"It's really true!" She looked at him in astonishment. "I was in two places at the same  
time! You saw it!" She looked like she was going to faint.

"Honey, you need to sit down." He led her back to the couch.

"What is happening to me?" Frightened, she began to cry.

He could not answer her. There was a struggle taking place inside him fighting for control. There was the man who she thought was Michael, the man that loved her and Sylar, the man that came to kill her, taking her power for his own. Her power hungered and excited him. "Think of what this power will do for you." The voice goaded him. "NO…I won't kill her." He tried to block the thoughts out of his head. "You stupid fool!" The voice mocked him again. "You know you have killed for a lot less. You killed your own mother! You sold your soul the day you killed Brian Davis. You have done nothing but lie to her from the beginning. Don't fool yourself into believing you will ever have a life with her. Kill her, you damn coward! She is no different from the rest of them! She never would have even looked at you before, GABRIEL!" The voice sneered at him. "That is not who I am anymore! I am Michael Walsh!" He screamed inside. But the voice taunted him. "It is only a matter of time and you will kill her too. Do it! Kill her now!"

"Michael!" She looked frightened. "You are covered with sweat!"

For the moment he passed off his conflict as concern. "I'm in shock. You have been telling me for two days about this, but to actually see it. It's amazing!"

He reached over putting his arms around her. "I really can't pretend I know what to do about this, because honestly baby, I am as shocked as you are." I couldn't even begin to tell you where to go to get answers for this."

Laura thought for a moment, and then she jumped up and ran to the book case. To his horror, she came back with a copy of Dr. Suresh's book.

"Where did you get that?" He demanded.

She stopped and looked at him baffled. "Greg dropped it by for me the other night."

"And why would he do that?" He asked becoming increasingly irate.

"Well, because when it happened, he was there and I knew I could trust him, so I told him about it." She looked at him. "Is that a problem".

"Yeah…Laura!" He was becoming increasingly angry. "It is an enormous problem!"

"Michael, what is wrong with you? I've never seen you like this."

"What's wrong with me you ask? I'll tell you!" He grabbed the book from her hand and sent it flying across the room. "Why are you telling Greg your deepest darkest secrets? What if he tells somebody? "

Laura looked at him in disbelief. "Who would he tell? The Men in Black? Michael, I have known Greg since I was 15 years old. He is the closest thing to a brother I have. I tell him everything. He wouldn't tell anybody. Well, maybe if it made him filthy rich…"

"This isn't a joke Laura!" He shouted. "Do you have any idea what they do to people like you? They take you away and lock you up against your will! They perform tests on you, poking and prodding your head so they can see what makes you the way you are! And if they REALLY want to know, they slice you open while you are still alive and do tests on your organs! Do you want that to happen, Laura?"

"What do you mean 'people like me'?" She asked angrily. "This is not a 50's sci-fi  
movie! And even if they did, how in the hell would you know about it?"

He stopped for a moment realizing he was becoming irrational and making her angry.

"Baby, I am just scarred. And perhaps I'm even jealous that you confided in Greg  
instead of me."

"Ok Michael…let's just go ahead and make this all about you! For one thing, you were out of town! And I tried to call you twice, but you didn't answer your phone. Likely because you were on a plane, but still, Greg was here! I would think you would be glad I had somebody to talk to." She thought a moment and laughed. "Wait a minute! Are you jealous of Greg? Because believe me Michael, he is not attracted to me. He would, however, be salivating all over himself if he were ever to meet you."

He rolled his eyes. "I am not making this about me! This is not what makes me angry. I am the man in your life. It deeply affects me that you felt you could talk to your friend about this, but you couldn't confide in you're…." He stopped.

"My what, Michael?" She asked, arms folded. "How were you going to finish that  
sentence? My boyfriend? My lover?" She walked toward him. "You can't even commit to a characterization."

Now he was very confused. "Ok, what is that supposed to mean? Do I really have to put a value on how I feel about you?" He walked toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. "And if you think after I have been at your side almost every day since the first night we were together that I am not committed to you…."  
"I do not doubt for a second that you love me. But even you have to admit that we have things that stand between us." Touching his face, she continued. "Michael, you wake up in the middle of the night screaming, you are cold and shaking! I have never asked you about it because it is for you to tell me, not for me to pry it out of you". She walked toward him. "When I ask you about our future, or getting our own place together, you always have something else you have to do, or you quickly change the subject!"

"Now that's not fair!" He said angrily. "This morning I offered to move in here with you."

"You have made it very clear to me that you are not ready." Her reply was cold and the green eyes that always danced when she saw him and grown dark. "And the fact you just said you offered to move in with me cements that in stone."

She began to cry. "I have been in love with you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Michael. But I am so afraid, some morning I am going to wake up and you will not be there. Or I am going to come home some night and your place will be cleaned out. I just have this feeling somewhere deep down that you are not really mine. Like there is this deep, dark secret you have that is going to take you away from me some day." She put her hands on his face continuing. "Michael, I have never asked you about your life before you met me. I always told myself when you were ready to tell me, you would. But I think I have earned the right to ask you. What is keeping you from being in this all the way? In case you haven't noticed, things are changing dramatically and I am scarred to death! I need you! I can't loose you. What aren't you telling me about your life before you met me?"

For a moment he stood there. There it was! She had asked him point blank. What could he say? If he told her the truth, he would loose her without question. If he left right now, she would think he was a coward. So, he did the only thing he could; he spun another web of deception.

"You want to know about my life?" He began. "Well, how about if I tell you about how my parents got killed when I was 11 in a car accident. My sister and I were in the backseat. We were fighting and my father couldn't concentrate! We caused the accident! Try sleeping with THAT sometime and see how you do!"

He walked toward her a few steps, folding his arms. "Hey…I know! Maybe you would like to know all about how my little sister and I were shipped around to foster homes and at the very last one we were in, she was killed by our foster father. It was my job to protect her, but I COULDN'T." Then he shouted angrily. "IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT ME YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT, LAURA?" 

Angrily, he walked out the door. He ran down the hall walking in the door of his  
apartment. Once inside he shed tears heavily. "I HATE having to lie to her. I can't tell her truth." He sobbed. "You did the only thing you could do. You have to continue your hunt. You have to kill her." The voice told him. "NO!" He shouted. "I'm not going to kill her! She is the only person who has ever really loved me. I won't do it!"

The room was calm and the voice was gone for now. He walked to the window and sat down in the chair. 

She stood there stunned looking where he had stood, feeling horrible for the way she had provoked him. Grabbing her keys and ran down the hall to his apartment. Letting herself in, she found him sitting by the window. He half smiled. "I can see having a girlfriend that is also my landlord, I am not going to be winning too many fights around here."

She smiled sadly. Walking to him, she sat and snuggled on his lap. "I'm sorry."

"No. I'm sorry. I should have told you about this a long time ago." He said flatly. "And now you know why it is important for me to be able to project you."

"You can't always protect me, Michael. And I need to know what is happening with me." For now, she decided not to tell him about her talk with Kiyoshi Yamagati this morning. 

He pulled her in close and turned her face toward him. "You need to drop this Laura. If you have this power, it is a gift to be enjoyed. But honey, I know there are government organizations that perform tests on people. They hunt you down and spend the rest of your life tracking you." Closing his eyes, he stroked her hair. "And if there are people like this Sylar person trying to kill you, why would you even want to put yourself out there. You are just making yourself vulnerable to some really dangerous people."

"If it bothers you that much, I will drop it." Came her defeated reply.

"Do you promise?" He asked stroking her face.

"I promise." She replied sadly. But deep inside she knew she could not keep her  
promise to him. It was her fate. Her mother gave up her dreams to empower her. But right now he would not understand. So for now it would be her secret.

He pulled her in close to him. "I know you're disappointed, but I want you to do this for your own good. I can't loose you, baby. Can we just keep this between us?"

Half smiling she nodded and snuggled next to him.

As he held her, he smiled superciliously to himself.

End of part IV


	5. Chapter 5

Tortured Souls

Part V – The New Company

Midland Texas 3 miles, the green highway sign read. Hana Gitelman sped her motorcycle down the highway. She made the exit at Highway 17 and drove through town stopping her bike in front of Pizzeria Prima. She walked inside approaching the man behind the counter wearing the horned rimmed glasses. He turned and looked at her. His name was Bennett, former enemy turned ally.

"Everybody's inside." He told her turning pizzas in the oven. "I'll be there when Lyle and Jeff get here to take over."

"Ok." Hana replied heading toward the back. "Hi Claude".

Claude abruptly appeared behind her. "How could you of possibly known I was there?"

Hana turned and glared at him.

"You may be invisible, my friend" Bennett taunted him laughing. "But when you get around the pretty ladies your heavy breathing gives you away every time."

"Really!" Claude replied astonished. 'I'm going to have to work on that liability if I'm ever going to get a date again."

Hana walked into the back room. She entered the walk-in refrigerator and once inside, she lifted a block of cheese to access a small panel. She typed a code into the panel and two of the racks swung outward revealing a metal door. Hana typed in another code. The door opened. She walked down a narrow hallway to another door. She lowered her face allowing her retina to be scanned. The door opened.

Inside the room were six people:

Peter Petrelli – Super genome with multiple powers.

Mohinder Suresh – Genetics professor from Madras India. His father Chandra Suresh was killed by Sylar.

Niki Saunders – Super Genome with super human strength.

Matt Parkman – Super Genome, mind reading abilities.

Hiro Nakamura – Super Genome, teleportation.

Audrey Hanson – Former FBI agent. Has been on Sylar's trail for two years. Came to work for Bennett after the company was reformed.

Claude walked through the door followed by Bennett.

Looking at the group in front of her Hana began to speak. "Thank you all for dropping everything and coming. This is a matter of absolute importance."

Hiro spoke first. "Did you find Laura Ryan?"

"Yes." Hana replied. "I found Laura. She is alive and for the moment is unharmed. I had a little trouble getting to talk to her. She is very intelligent and keeps her guard up."

"Have her abilities began to manifest?" Bennett asked her.

"Indeed they have. She appears to possess astral projection abilities." Hana reached into her backpack and pulled out a newspaper article about a bus accident and a mysterious woman who saved the driver and disappeared.

"So she's a little publicity shy.' Claude responded sarcastically.

"I knew you were going to say that, so I brought these." Hana pulled out a folder of photos. "I spent two days tracking her. I tapped into the security systems of the Bay Area Rapid Transit stations for that morning. First photo is from day one. As you can see she is boarding train at Oakland City Center, at 8:00 am. This would let her off at the Embarcadero station at 8:30 am. But as you can see from this next photo, she is sound asleep in her seat. However, this next picture was taken from the security cameras at Ryan and Associates at 08:35 am and look who is sitting calmly in her office preparing for a presentation with the staff. Now how can she have walked three blocks and been there calmly in front of her staff when it is a 15 minute walk from Embarcadero station and maybe 10 minutes if you run."

"I'm not sold so far. Maybe she woke up and got off at another stop." Audrey Hansen replied, arms folded.

"Logical, but not possible." Hana responded. "She could have gotten off at the next stop, but that would have taken her 5 minutes further from her building." Pulling out another set of photos. "So now here we are at 10:00 am. Now watch, she is still on the train. She awakens and begins to panic thinking she has missed the presentation. So, she rushes back to her office only to discover she was already there."

Hana continued. "After the shock wears off, she discusses the matter with Greg Andrews, her business associate who is the closest thing she has to a sibling."

"And this meeting prompted Mr. Andrews to call me." Mohinder Suresh spoke up. "He called me three days ago looking for my father."

"Yes." Hana replied. "We will get to that in a moment Dr. Suresh. I have a lot to tell you about."

"Please." Mohinder prompted her to continue.

"Thank you. Now I would like to bring your attention to the newspaper article. There is no mystery to who stopped that bus and rescued the driver. That was Laura Ryan herself. But she told me herself that she was sound asleep in the back of the bus. She does not recall the incident and panicked when the press showed up, so ran from the scene."

Bennett spoke up. "Ok…so now we know all about her. What about Sylar? What did you find about Sylar?"

Frustrated, she replied. "I'll get to Mr. Gray in a moment. It is coming, believe me."

"Were you able to warn her about Sylar?" Peter asked. "He was last sighted in San Francisco. That is where she works."

Hana sighed. "Ok…I was hoping to get through this, but very well…we'll talk about Gray." She took a deep breath. "I know exactly where he is and even where he resides."

The group became angry and began shouting at her in unison.

"CALM DOWN!" She shouted over the crowd.

"Don't tell us to calm down! You have known where he has been for four days and you didn't inform us?" Suresh shouted. "We put our faith in you to find her and warn her about him and you know where he is? We need to go bring him in, NOW!" The group agreed.

"If it was that simple, don't you think I would have called you all to meet me in San Francisco to take him out?" Hana continued. "Please. Let me explain."

"Go ahead Hana." Niki told her.

"Ok." She continued. "Three months ago a man named Michael Walsh from Chicago Illinois up and moved his business to San Francisco. He sold his condo, then a few weeks later he hopped in his sports car and headed west on Interstate 80."

"Here is where it gets interesting." She pulled out newspaper clippings. "Two days after Michael Walsh left Chicago, in Rock Springs Wyoming a woman named Kimberly Pearson, age 24 is found dead in her apartment." Hana put another newspaper clipping on the table of a woman with her head opened and her brain was taken. "Witnesses say Miss Pearson left a local tavern with a dark haired man in his early 30's. Now the interesting part about it was that Ms. Pearson was found in the nude in the middle of her living room, there were two wine glasses found on a nearby table. There was no sign of a struggle. I tapped into the Cheyenne Wyoming FBI database and found no evidence of intercourse or rape. I am sure you can guess the DNA on one of the glasses matched the DNA found on a beer bottle at the tavern and the DNA belonged to Gabriel Gray. Also, there was saliva on Miss Pearson's lips that was a match. The FBI believes he got the victim intoxicated with the promise of a sexual encounter, but before he sealed the deal, he killed her."

"Harsh." Parkman thought out loud.

Hana placed the next article on the table. "Boise Idaho. Antnony Fialdo, a 29 year old lab technician is seen talking to a man matching Gray's description in a local pub. The other patrons recall the two men going out to look at Fialdo's car and the next time Fialdo is seen, he is dead behind the tavern with his head opened, brain missing. Mohinder, I am fairly certain I saw this man on your father's list, am I correct?"

Suresh pulled out a copy of the list and studied it. "Yes, right here."

"What about Kimberly Pearson. Hana asked. "Can you check?"

"Yes, there is a Kimberly Pearson. He replied.

"Sylar's deadly trail ends in Elko Nevada two months ago. This time he killed a man named Earl Thomas. He was a 46 year old surveyor who used to impress the town residents with his knack for finding silver. Possibly his ability."

"And also on the list." Mohinder added.

"I thought as much." Hana replied.

"Ok, it makes no sense" Parkman began. He goes to the trouble of getting Ms. Pearson to her home, obviously gets her all hot and bothered, then before he seals the deal, he kills her! What guy does that?"

"Actually, it makes perfect sense." Audrey was looking at her laptop. "If Sylar killed Michael Walsh, then he got an alleged ability owned by Michael Walsh. From what I see here, it looks like he had a fetish for..ah…shall we say less than virtuous women. That wasn't his ability, but he seemed have a gift for luring women and they felt powerless against him. If you look at this guy's picture, this is not Sylar." On Audrey's computer screen was a scruffy, blonde man in his late 30's. "Sylar isn't interested in sex, only power. But he can use his newfound ability to lure anybody his way. Seduction is not just about sex. It is about control. And if he is impersonating Walsh, who is a successful commodities trader, what better way to bring money your way than learning a lucrative trade. "

"But why go to all that trouble?" Parkman said incredulously. "Why not just kill her outside the pub like he did the other guy?"

"Well, that fits in with the rest of my story." Hana continued. "Coincidentally, the day after Earl Thomas is killed, Michael Walsh rents an apartment in a large Victorian style home in the Jack London Square district of Oakland, CA. The original owner of the building is listed as George Ryan, who is the father of…, anybody?"

"Laura Ryan!" Hiro exclaimed. "He knows about her and is waiting for her power to manifest before he kills her."

"This is what I thought. I believe that was the original plan. He found her on the list, she was where he was going to be; he needed a place to lay low for a while. But this is where things get complicated." Hana took more photos out of her folder. "These photos were taken three days ago. I got these photos from the surveillance cameras Ms. Ryan had installed in the apartment building. As you can see, there is Sylar, AKA; Michael Walsh walking into the building at 10pm. But as you can see, he has a duffle bag and looks exhausted, like he is coming home from someplace. He goes into apartment 3C, the unit being rented by Walsh. Ten minutes later he comes out after changing his clothes. He walks down the all to apartment 3A which is occupied by Laura Ryan. He uses a _key_ to get inside the door. Not forced entry."

"Now here I am both intrigued wondering how he was able to gain access to her apartment, and panicked...is he in there killing her. I was able to tap into the surveillance from the third floor of the bank building across the street and was very shocked to find them in the throws of passion." She passed the photos around.

"Let me see those…." Claude grabbed the photos.

Peter angrily snatched the photos and handed them back to Hana. "We don't need be looking at these. We have made it our mission to protect this girl and others like her. What she does in the privacy of her home does not need to be distributed among us."

"It does if the other party in this is Sylar." Audrey challenged him. "Is this the day Laura…astral projected herself the first time?"

"Yes." Hana replied. "Earlier in the evening I tried to contact her by instant message, but she would not believe me. It wasn't until I met her face to face the following day that she was willing to talk to me."

"Ok, but still." Niki added. "He killed that other girl and did not sleep with her. It is obvious that he is sleeping with this woman, but he has not killed her yet. It doesn't make any sense."

"No. It makes perfect sense." Peter said thoughtfully looking at one of the pictures. "He loves her." He said holding up a photo of the two of them outside of her apartment holding each other. "Look at the way he is looking at her. He is in love."

The group studied the photo. "You're right." Parkman agreed. "He's got it pretty bad."

"And the feeling is mutual." Hana added. "You should have seen the look on her face when she talked about him yesterday. She thinks she has found her prince charming. I talked to some of the other tenants in the building and they all concur the two of them have been inseparable since the day he moved in. And oddly enough, he is well liked by the other tenants. Mrs. Gardner, an elderly widow in 2B says he is always coming to help her with something; carrying her packages, fixing a leak, killing a spider, he always comes running when she asks him for help.

"Oh common!" Bennett began angrily. "This is Sylar we are talking about. He is a predator, a killer, not an Eagle Scout. He is not capable of loving anybody."

"Well, no matter what he has done, he is still a man." Peter interjected. "Messed up as he is, his blood runs red as yours and mine. And…well…look at her. She is beautiful."

"If she just got her powers and he has been there for two months, something kept him from moving on to the next victim." Niki added

"Yes. He is a lost soul." Hiro replied thoughtfully. "He had done many awful things, but deep down, he is a frightened child. I am the only one who has seen this side of him. There may some good left in him."

"No there is not!" Suresh agreed. "The man is a murderer and someday he is going to turn on her and kill her too!"

"I don't think so." Audrey said calmly.

"What do you mean?" Niki asked her.

"The last killing was two months ago." She explained. "There are six other people on the list that live in a 200 mile radius that he surely has easy access to, but he hasn't made any attempt to even visit them."

"So, are you saying he has turned over a new leaf?" Parkman asked disbelievingly.

"For the moment." She answered. "As long as he has her in his life, he will be a model citizen. But he will do whatever means possible to keep her." Audrey got up and grabbed a bottle of water.

"You see, she represents his ideal." She continued. "Gabriel Gray, the geeky watchmaker from Queens, probably couldn't even get a woman to talk to him, let alone sleep with him. But then he meets Laura and something changes inside of him. She is good, kind and beautiful. She probably would have talked to him or been kind, but would she enter into a relationship with Gabriel Gray? I have my doubts. He wants to protect her and keep her safe. Likely even from him. To her he is handsome, charming and probably has a mysterious quality about him. Women love that. Believe me." She added slightly embarrassed. "He has what he really has wanted all along. Love, approval, and security. And if the textbooks are right, he won't ever want to kill her. In fact, he would let himself be killed before he let anything happen to her."

"My God…" Niki said thoughtfully. "She thinks she has found her knight in shining armor. But he probably would have killed her if circumstance been just a little different. And now we have to take him away from her. How can we do this?"

"Oh common Niki!" Parkman shouted. "This is Sylar! He has tried to kill everybody in this room at least once."

"I'm with Niki." Peter said. "This girl is an innocent victim in all of this. I know this is Sylar and he has to pay for his crimes, but I don't feel right about ruining her life this way."

"Am I the only one here who doesn't see a problem with this?" Claude asked the group. "This is _Sylar_ we are talking about. He's a murderer! And we don't know this girl. In the long run we'll be doing her a favor taking him out of the picture. Someday she is bound to find out what he is. So, the answer is simple. You said it yourself, Agent Hansen. He will do anything to protect her, so we get to her and use her as leverage. Of course we won't hurt her, but he doesn't have to know that. He comes to rescue her and we grab him and lock him up! Problem solved!"

"And what about her?" Peter shouted at him. "Are you forgetting she is a human being whose only fault here is falling in love with the wrong guy?"

"Peter is right." Hiro said thoughtfully. "We have to remember why we are protecting her. Or have you all forgotten?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

Hiro said starring straight ahead. "She is the one the prophesy told me would one day carry power greater than ours."

"No offense Hiro," Bennett started in. "But didn't that same prophesy tell you that she is the one that will save us from Sylar?"

"Maybe she already has." Hana said thoughtfully.

"Are you people listening to yourselves?" Audrey shouted in disbelief. You do remember who we are talking about, don't you? This man is a KILLER! Hiro! He killed Charlie! Hana, he tried to kill you! And Peter do you even remember how many times he has tried to kill you and your brother. And your niece!" Turning to Bennett. "I know I don't have to convince you. Claire for all intents and purposes is your daughter. And he tried to kill your wife. I am sorry I am having a little trouble thinking of him as a sappy romance hero. We all know what he is and we have to remember that!"

"Hey believe me…I have no problem letting that son of a bitch rot in a cell until the day he dies." Peter shot back at her. "I know better than anybody what he is capable of. I don't think any of us are saying he should not be brought to justice, and if he dies in the process, even better. But he has most likely deluded this girl that he is a prince or something. To learn what he really is will be painful for her and I guess I am not feeling too good about that."

"Ok, we're all just spinning our wheels." Claude interjected loudly. "We need a plan. Not a debate on Gabriel Gray's love life. Since nobody likes my idea of using her for leverage to bring in Sylar, if you have a better idea, lets hear it."

All were quite for a moment.

"Well, since she could be the most powerful of all the people on my father's list, I would like to travel to California and pay her a visit and run some tests on her." Mohinder offered. "She needs to know her lover is dangerous. The worse thing we can do is to not tell her. Of course it will devastate her, but would you all rather she finds out the hard way?"

"I like it." Audrey agreed. "I'm for it."

"It's a good plan Dr. Suresh," Hana responded. "But she is very guarded. She was not receptive to me at all."

"I think he should go." Niki replied. "No offense Hana, but sometimes your approach is…I don't know…intrusive. Getting instant messages and text messages just out of the blue from somebody you don't know is creepy."

"Well, I didn't hear you exactly volunteering to go in my place." Hana replied sardonically.

"Mohinder is the right choice to approach her." Bennet said matter-of-factly. "You have already made contact with her friend, it would be logical that you follow through."

"But how are you going to tell her about Sylar?" Peter asked thoughtfully.

"That my friend is going to be the difficult part." Mohinder answered.

_**End of Chapter V **_


	6. Chapter 6

Tortured Souls

Part VI – Awakening

On any given weekday, the Embarcadero 2 fitness center was crowded with executives working off last night's swag meals, hot bodied men working up a sweat and scantily clad young women trying to look good for the men. This was not her scene. She would rather be running on the waterfront, but today it was raining and Tracy enjoyed coming here, so Laura came to placate and keep her company.

"You know every guy in the place is looking at you." Tracy goaded her.

"Not interested. I already have a boyfriend." She smiled at her friend keeping her pace.

"Yeah, rub it in!" Trace responded jealous. "Do you ever let that boy out of the house when you get home?"

"Tracy!" Laura glared at her.

"What?" Her friend continued goading her. "If I don't get to meet him, I want details! I'm beginning to think he isn't real"

"Oh, he's real alright." She smiled consciously. "Just very busy. I still like to keep him to myself."

"Well, I don't think you will ever have to worry about anybody else taking him from you." Her friend ribbed on her. "What man could ever leave you?"

Laura stopped running. "I hope your right. Because sometimes I just don't know."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tracy asked confused. "I thought you two were crazy about each other."

"We are." Laura responded thoughtfully. "But…you know…forget it. I shouldn't have brought it up." She stopped the treadmill, and began gathering her belongings.

"Honey. What is it?" Tracy asked affectionately.

Laura smiled sadly. "I don't know. I'm probably just being stupid."

Tracy put her arm around her shoulder and took her into the women's lounge area. "Talk to me." Her friend ordered her.

"We had our first fight last night." Laura confided. "And it got very ugly. I never thought I could say this, but he really scarred me, Tracy."

"Did he try to hurt you?" She asked angrily.

"No." She answered softly. "He would never hurt me." Then she smiled. "Besides, I think I could take him."

"You probably could." She said comforting. "But did he say anything to you or threaten you?"

"No, no…nothing like that." Laura shook her head. "I probably shouldn't have even said anything about it." She got up and headed for the shower.

"Laura!" Tracy called after her. "You are not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on! What was the fight about?"

Even though Tracy was just ten years older than she was, she was like her second mother. Since Laura was in her early teens, Tracy was always there for her and she could tell her anything. Yet as much as she loved Tracy, Laura knew it was difficult for her to keep a secret. For now she would not tell her about her powers.

"It's kind of hard to say what it was about. It started out to be something really stupid and escalated to absurd." She explained. "I really don't know why I feel this way, but I can't shake the feeling like there is something underlying with him. He has horrible nightmares and wakes up in a cold sweat sometimes. Last night I asked him point blank, and he told me when he was a child he and his sister were fighting in the backseat of his parent's car and his father got so angry he couldn't control the car. His father crashed the vehicle and his parents were killed instantly. And if that wasn't bad enough, his little sister was murdered by his foster father and he has guilt issues from not being able to protect her."

"That's awful!" Tracy replied in shock. "Of course he has nightmares! Who wouldn't?"

"It's horrible!" Laura agreed. "And I know he has gone through hell. But I can't shake the feeling there is something else he isn't telling me."

"Well, he travels a lot." She said thoughtfully. "Do you think he has a wife in another city?"

"Tracy, that's not even funny." She replied angered.

"Well, it wasn't really a joke." Tracy responded. "But really, do you think maybe you are reading something that isn't there?"

"It's possible." Laura replied. "But my instincts tell me I am right."

She stood up and started to walk to the shower. Thoughtfully she turned around. "Tracy, he had a look in his eye I have never seen before and frankly, it scarred me. It was like the kind and sweet man I fell in love with had turned into somebody dark and brutal. I have never seen that side of him before."

"What do you think you're going to do about it?" Tracy asked her.

"For now, nothing." Laura replied coldly. "But whatever it is, I am going to find out. One way or another." She turned and headed toward the showers.

Just as she turned, the room began to shake. She could hear people shouting and screaming in horror. They were having an earthquake! Laura, Tracy and others helped people in danger get to safety. As she and Tracy huddled together under the vanity, she heard a loud snapping sound coming from above her. One of the giant mirrors was starting to break. Two women looked in horror as it began falling right on them. Laura heard the mirror begin to shatter. Without thinking, she lunged forward extending her hand in a tiger's claw formation. The mirror pieces froze in mid air then vaporized. She ran to help the women to safety.

The quake was over in a matter of seconds. Upon looking around there did not appear to be any structural damage. The fitness center management gave the all-clear signal.

"Another Wednesday in San Francisco." Laura smiled at her friend. But Tracy did not laugh. She was looking at her friend horrified.

"What in the hell was THAT????" She demanded.

Laura gave an awkward smile. She had been caught. She approached her friend. "I think you need a drink."

A short time later, Laura and Tracy were seated at the small pub downstairs from their office. People were lively discussing the earthquake and how bizarre it was there was not more damage. Earthquakes were a way of life in San Francisco, but it never failed to arouse discussion among the city's populace.

Laura ordered them each a pint of ale and told the server to keep them coming. Knowing her secret was out, she confided her secret in her friend with the promise that she would not blab.

"Ok, so you are able to…what did you call it….'project' yourself while you are sleeping?" Her friend asked, still shaken. "And now you are able to do this thing of manipulating falling objects in the air just by doing some kind of karate move? What kind of weird shit is this?"

"Well..." Laura began. "I have known about the astral projection for a few days. What you saw today is a new one. I don't know where that came from. Hell, I don't know where any of it came from for that matter."

"So, when you saw that mirror begin to break, what made you know you would be able to do that?" Tracy asked.

"I don't really know." She answered thoughtfully. "Call it an impulse I guess. I heard the mirror cracking and I just reacted. Yesterday my default instinct would have been to run, but this just kind of took over."

"Wow!" Tracy replied astonished. "If I didn't see this myself, I would have thought you were whacked, girl!"

"Well, hold the line on that one." She replied. "I have yet to be convinced that I'm not."

"Honey, this is a gift." Tracey consoled her. "And gifts like this usually go to the worthy."

"Tracy, I'm nobody's hero." Laura took a sip of her ale.

Tracy looked at her like she was crazy. "I can think of at least 100 people in a single thought who would disagree with you on that statement. Look at all you have done for us after your father died. You have unselfishly sacrificed your own happiness to keep this company going…for US. I know you have dreams of your own, but Laura, you have stayed to keep the doors open. You are a true HERO!"

"When you put it that way, it makes me sound like George Baily, doesn't it?" She laughed. "As flattered as I am, I have never fought in a war or pulled anybody out of a burning building, so lets save that honor for somebody who truly deserves it.

"Deserves it?" Tracy almost shouted. "Not even an hour ago, you rescued those women from being diced to ribbons by that mirror. NOBODY deserves to be called a hero more than you do."

"I did do that, didn't I?" Laura replied smiling, half bragging.

"Ladies and gentlemen…I am sitting next to WONDER WOMAN!" Tracy laughed loudly.

"Wonder Woman…nah." Laura laughed. "I like Super Girl better. My boobs are too small to be Wonder Woman." The two women shrieked with laughter.

As they settled down, Greg angrily joined them.

"BITCH!" He shouted and slammed down into a chair.

Laura and Tracy looked at each other, then at Greg. "If you're talking about one of us, you had better be smiling." Laura responded.

"Not you guys." He stammered. "The nanny."

"Aren't you a little old for a nanny?" Tracy asked him.

Greg was getting annoyed. "Is it my turn to say something completely stupid and insensitive now? The nanny is for Lacey, not me."

"Your dog!" Laura looked at him in disbelief. "You have a nanny for your dog?"

"Well, she needs somebody to keep her company during the day. She gets so lonely."

"Yeah, she probably hides under the sofa and can't find herself." Tracy and Laura burst into laughter. "Greg, you don't have a dog…you have a rodent problem."

"Well, laugh all you want!" He replied getting pissy. "But today I went out and got THIS." He pulled out a large box.

"Nanny Cam?" Tracy laughed as did Laura.

"What is the nanny doing that you have to get her on film?" Laura asked.

"Well, every week I give her money to go to Pampered Pups for dog food." He began. "Yesterday, I came home, took out the trash and I found a plastic bag from Kmart in my trash!"

"And…?" Laura asked dubiously.

"There were six cans of store brand dog food in the bag!" He was nearly in tears.

"That's horrible." Tracy replied.

"The woman should be incarcerated immediately." Laura agreed.

"Well, this may be a joke to you girls! " He said angrily. "But I am going to catch the filthy skank in the act and then I am going to have her ass deported!"

"So…why don't you just fire her?" Laura asked simply.

Greg looked at her haughty. "This is REVENGE sweetheart! Not about her having a job in this country."

"Greg!" Laura tried to bring him back down to reality. "It's only dog food. She isn't going to die from it."

"And it's not like she eats much anyway." Tracy replied. "I think you should be thanking your lucky stars that she has managed to avoid becoming a snack for your cats." The girls again erupted in laughter.

"Well…laugh all you want!" He retorted. "Besides, that's NOT the reason I cam down here anyway. Laura, I need to talk to you." He looked at Tracy snidely. "ALONE!"

"Greg, that was awfully rude!" Laura angrily came back at him.

"It's ok." Tracy responded. "I have a lot of work to do anyway."

"Tracy." Laura stood up and hugged her friend. "Go home!" It has been a stressful day, so go get some wine, ice cream or…whatever it takes to unwind."

"Are you sure?" She asked

"I'm sure." The women hugged.

"Ok then. You don't have to tell me twice!"

"Goodbye Tracy." Greg said sarcastically.

"ARF ARF!" She almost shouted in his face making Laura laugh.

"Ok…I'm all yours." She sat back down. "Why did you rudely interrupt my afternoon with Tracy and run her off?"

"Well, don't hate me." He stammered.

"I already do." She replied. "What did you do?"

"You are going to have a visitor in a little while here." He said sheepishly.

Laura leaned forward. "Who?"

"Remember I told you about that Dr. Suresh?" He asked.

"Yes…." Laura replied.

"Well, he's kind of on his way to meet you."

"WHAT?" She shouted nearly jumping up from her seat.

"Now calm down honey. I knew you were going to be angry. He just wants to talk to you."

"Well I don't want to talk to him!" She shouted at him. "You had no right to tell him to come here. I promised Michael I would stay away from these people!"

"Michael?" Greg looked at her confused. "What in the hell does he have to do with this?"

"He has everything to do with this Greg!" Laura replied in disbelief. "He is part of my life now."

"Yeah, he sounds like a control freak." He replied angry.

Laura stood up. "See ya." She started to leave.

"Sit." He commanded her. "I'm sorry. But don't you find it a little odd that he always seems busy whenever you want us to meet him?"

"No, not really." She replied still angry. "He travels a lot and he isn't a social butterfly, like you are. Keep this up and see what happens."

"Ok…I'll drop it." He gave in to her. "But I AM going to keep looking for information on this Sylar guy you keep talking about."

"You do that." She responded. "And call off your genetics guru. I'm not interested."

"Too late, honey!" He stood up to leave. "See ya!" He gave her a kiss and left.

Laura felt somebody behind her. She turned around to find a tall, handsome, Indian gentleman standing behind her.

"Excuse me, Laura Ryan?" He asked. "Pardon the intrusion, my name is Mohinder Suresh."

Laura smiled at him. She had to admit he was handsome and she would have been very attracted to him if her heart did not belong to Michael.

"No intrusion Doctor." She answered politely. "Sit down, please. Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm fine. Thank you." He answered politely.

"So, what can I do for _you_, Dr. Suresh?" Laura asked guardedly sitting back in her chair looking him directly in the eye.

He smiled. "Well, they told me you would be a tough nut to crack. I am not disappointed."

"You have no idea." She smiled cautiously.

"Actually, I do." He came back at her. He threw a file down. "I have been reading all about you."

"Where did you get that?" She asked angrily.

"If you give me thirty minutes of your time, I will tell you all about it." He answered sure of himself.

"Start talking!" She challenged him.

From the back of the pub, he sat unseen in a dark corner. His eyes were full of malevolence and anger. As he watched them, rage swelled up inside him. He clenched his fists so hard blood began to spill out.

"Hello Mohinder!" He said quietly to himself. "Still trying to track me down, my old friend?" He laughed forebodingly. "I'll play your game. But we both know I don't play well with others." His face grew dark and his voice became evil. "And right now, I don't like the way you are looking at my girl." He stood up and started for the door, putting on sunglasses and pulling his jacket up around his face. As he passed their table, the glass in front of Mohinder abruptly shattered startling them both.

Sylar walked out the door with a depraved smile across his face.

**END OF PART VI**


	7. Chapter 7

Tortured Souls

Part VII – Forsaken Passion

As the marine layer cast a shadow of darkness across the bay, they lay together ignited in fevered passion.

The phone rang.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She said breathlessly.

"Just let it ring." He said trying to revive the moment.

"I can't." She said reluctantly pulling herself away, pulling her sweatshirt on. "I'm on a deadline."

"It's Saturday! Who works on Saturday?" He asked exasperated.

Laura shot him a look, answering her phone quickly. "Hello?"

"This is Orion Courier Service calling to confirm your pick up for 10:00am today." The voice on the other end said."

"Oh...yes..." She looked at the clock; 8:30am. She jumped up getting dressed, causing him to throw his head back on the pillow rolling his eyes. "I'll meet you there." She looked at him and mouthed 'sorry'.

She quickly hung up. "Oh my God!" I completely forgot! I have to get the second draft ready to send to Mr. Linderman."

"And you are the one that can do it?" He asked annoyed. "You have close to 100 people employed and nobody else can do it? What about your secretary?"

"That's Administrative Assistant. And she is in Yosemite with her family." She answered getting her things together.

"Lucky her." He said sarcastically.

"I'll only be gone for a couple of hours." She embraced him kissing him softly.

"Go!" He told her reluctantly. "I need to get some work done anyway. But when you get home...your all mine!" He returned her kiss.

"I can't wait." She broke herself away and out the door.

He stood there looking where she had just walked through the door. No sooner than she left, she walked back through.

"You have 15 minutes." She playfully jumped back on the bed.

Only left a moment ago she had left him. He could still feel her against him; her scent still lingered. Turning onto his back, he remembered her promise that she would give up her search for her powers. But he knew even then that she would not be able to keep that promise. seeing her with Mohinder Suresh at the pub a few days ago. "What are you keeping from me, my love?" He said aloud. "Why don't you tell me about my friend Mohinder paying you a visit?"

The phone rang. He turned looking at it. Raising his finger he flipped the switch sending the call to her answering machine. "I'm not going to be sitting around here listening to your phone ring all day, my love." He said aloud. He jumped up and began putting his clothes on.

He could hear the caller leaving a message.

"Laura, this is Greg!" The voice sounded panicked. "I tried to call you on your cell, but you aren't answering..."

He saw her mobile phone sitting her dresser. "Oops!" He laughed sarcastically.

"Listen," the message continued. "My date with the FBI guy paid off. I found Sylar! I know what he looks like. I have pictures you need to see." He looked up panicked then ran to pick up the call.

"Greg!" He said excitedly picking up the phone. "This is Michael, Laura's boyfriend. You actually have pictures of this Sylar guy?"

"Oh, hey Michael!" Greg replied to him. "I was beginning to think Laura was making you up."

"I am more real than you think." He said attempting to be humorous. "Look, she is on her way to the office. She left her phone here. I don't have any way to get hold of her right now. But we need to stop this guy before he finds her."

"Yeah, we do. Are you going to be there for a while?" Greg asked him. "I could come by and give these to you to give to her."

"Oh man, I'm not going to be here much longer. I have an appointment in the city." He replied. "Wait! Where do you live?" He smiled an ominous smile.

She quickly put the plans into a mailing tube just as the courier entered the office.

"I'll have these ready for you in a second." She shouted to him from her office. "I just need to put a label on the front." She looked down continuing what she was doing.

She heard her office door shut loudly and a young man was standing there looking lasciviously at her.

"Well, look at this." He said taking her all in. "A hot young lady all by herself. Aren't I the lucky guy?"

She looked up at him. She did not flinch. "I take it you're not the courier?"

"No, but I am hoping to be your dream date this afternoon." He leered at her.

"Look, you really don't want to do this." She warned him.

"Oh, yes I do." He laughed viciously. "And I can't wait to have a taste."

"Believe me." She tried to drive home her point. "You don't know who you are up against and you really do not want to fuck with me."

"Oh, but I do." He said coming closer. He grabbed her and tried to throw her on the floor.

"Ok..." She said sadly. "I tried to warn you."

She turned and punched him in the kidneys. He let out a scream. Undaunted, he continued to come after her.

She picked up the mailing tube and hit him over the head. He fell to the floor. He got up quickly and pulled out a knife.

"Please!" She looked at him snidely. She turned in a spinning side kick sending the knife out of his hand. He grabbed her leg. She took her other leg and got him in a scissor hold around the neck. He managed to recover and throw her off of him.

He took out a gun and fired two shots at her. Instinctively, she jumped up and hovered in mid air. "Another new one." She thought to herself. She kicked the man in the face.

He fell down but quickly recovered. She lowered herself to the ground.

"You must enjoy pain. You want to keep going?" She asked her foe.

He found his knife and lunged at her again. Again she jumped in the air and did a forward flip right over him. She found a mop in the corner and before he recovered, she grabbed the handle from the mop and came after him. She jumped landing right in front of him. She spun around and him in the groin with the handle. He fell to the ground screaming in pain.

She stood over him. "I am going to give you one more chance to get out of here." She warned him again.

He responded by kicking the mop handle out of her grasp and pulled her down to the floor. He tried to rip her clothes off. She grabbed him by the collar in a firm grasp.

"Now you're just pissing me off!" She told him angrily. She put her legs around him and brought her heel down into the middle of his spine.

She took the opportunity again to get away from him. She heard something whizzing through the air. She turned around and saw two knives hurling toward her. Her first instinct was blocking stance. The knives separated and flew out of her path. "Cool!" She thought to herself.

He came running at her one more time. She ran up the side of the wall flipping backwards, landing behind him. As he stood there looking for her, she kicked him in the lower back, then she grabbed his shoulder and sent him flying through the glass of her office. He lay there weakly trying to stand up. Laura approached him once again carrying the mop handle.

"Get out!" She ordered him thrusting the mop handle in the middle of his throat causing him to gasp for air. He stood up and limped out the door.

The doorbell rang. Greg stopped fidgeting and ran to answer it. From his peephole, he could only see the back of a man's head.

"Who is it?" He called out.

"It's Michael, Greg." He answered.

Greg quickly opened the door. As he opened, the man turned around and to his horror, Greg instantly recognized him from the pictures he had found. There he stood. Arms folded against the wall. Oh, he was handsome alright. But he looked at him with an evil smile that sent chills down his spine.

"You!" Greg barely choked out.

Sylar pushed past him walking inside.

"Well, I assume I need no introduction" He laughed in a sinister way.

"YOU are Michael?" Greg asked horrified.

He put one finger on his nose and pointed at him with the other. "Very good!" Sylar laughed sarcastically.

"What are you going to do to me?" Greg asked fearfully

"I haven't really decided yet." He replied thoughtfully. "But I must admit, you have me in a bad position."

"Look, you can do whatever the hell you want to me. I don't care. My biological family disowned me when they learned I was gay. But one of the very few people in life that I care about is Laura. She is the only family I have. She is just like a little sister and I will be damned if I am going to let you hurt her."

"I can assure you…" Sylar told him plopping down in one of his recliners. "I won't hurt her. Despite how this perceptibly seems to you, I love her. I would rather die myself than allow anything to happen to her by me or anybody else."

He leaned forward. "But I am still in a pickle with what to do about you Greg. I don't want to kill you. I like you. You are Laura's friend. That makes you my friend."

"You are not my friend, asshole!" Greg retorted. "Do whatever to me it is that you feel you have to do. But sooner or later you will be caught."

"Do you think I give a damn about being caught?" He laughed. "Please, there are no walls that can hold me. Humans are no match for me. What I care about is Laura. She loves me. I don't want her to learn that I am a killer. That will destroy her. Oh and of course...she would drop me like a rabid porcupine and that would kind of suck for me." He gave a smirk.

He stood up and walked toward the window.

"I came here to kill her, you know." He continued. "Oh yes. I had a list of names. She was number 27 on the list. The same number as her age. It all worked out perfect. It was fate in its most perfect form. I killed the real Michael Walsh in Chicago, he was on his way here, so I decided to take his life in every way. And how in the hell did it end up that he was moving into an apartment owned by somebody else on the list. There it was again! Fate!"

He turned his eyes toward Greg. "But the very second I saw her face, I loved her." He closed his eyes. "She looked like an angle. I lay beside her at night wondering how such an ethereal woman could love me. I know someday she is going to find out who I am. But I am not ready to let that happen yet."

He got his composure back and looked at him. "So you see Greg, I am sure you can appreciate my position. And you leave me with little options."

"Fuck you!" Greg yelled spitting at him. "Are you even listening to yourself? I don't give a shit about your position! Laura Ryan is the most amazingly selfless woman I know. I known her since she was a teenager and you have known her for what...three months? You don't know SHIT!!!! I was THERE when her father died. I stood beside her every second. She cried, I wiped away every tear! She was given the task of running her fathers company when inside she was, for all intents and purposes, a child. But she took the challenge and handled it boldly with dignity and grace. Something a damn coward like you could not even possibly begin to identify with. Every day she walked through those doors a frightened little girl on the inside. But when people looked at her they saw a lioness! There was no way she was ever going to let her father down or the people he called his friends. She had hopes and dreams of finding a husband and having children. She still does. With your sorry excuse for an ass!"

Greg folded his arms and stood directly in front of him. "You say you love her. You DON'T love her! You only want to control her. You are not worthy enough to breathe the same air, let alone share her bed. She is crazy about you. It is easy to see why. You are devilishly handsome with a smile that would melt diamonds and no doubt when you aren't sucking gray matter out of people's heads, you are probably quite the charming lad. She told me once she melts every time she looks in your eyes. Well, I am looking in your eyes now and all I can see is evil and pain. So you son of a bitch, go ahead and kill me! But if you really love her, remember this. The girl you say you love has had nothing but heartache in her life when it comes to love. Her mother died when she was just a child, then her father. She has felt abandoned by everyone she has ever loved. She is afraid you will leave her someday. And now you are murdering her best friend. Do you even care what this is going to do to her? And do you think it is going to do to her when she finds out; and she will; that the man she has given her heart to completely is nothing but a killer who would have killed her had things been just a little different? Yes, 'MICHAEL, she will find out. Our girl is anything but stupid and it is only a matter of time before she knows what really are. So do her and the entire world a favor when you leave here today. Go find a bus and stand in front of it! Get out of her life today!!"

Sylar stood there in the moment. He knew that everything Greg had said to him was true. Laura did deserve better than him. And this would deeply hurt her. But he could not let her go. Not yet.

He turned to Greg. "I'm sorry. I do not wish to do this."

"Then do what you have to do. But please make it quick." Greg pleaded of him starting to cry.

Sylar cried once again. "I'm sorry Greg." And with a quick swipe of his hand he sent a kitchen knife into Greg's head, killing him instantly. He never felt a thing.

The man came limping out of the building into the parking garage. He came to a stop. The air around him shifted transforming him; in his place stood Candice Wilmer. She approached a figure standing in the shadows.

"She is ready." She told the mysterious person.

"Are you quite positive?" He asked her.

"Look, I have a dislocated shoulder, three cracked ribs and I am damn sure I am going to have to get my spleen removed. So yeah, she is ready!" Candice responded hostilely

Mr. Yamagati stepped into the light. "Most excellent!" He smiled.

In the darkness he sat alone waiting for her to come home. The fog did not lift this morning. It was dark and cold in her apartment. It was late fall and this would be an idealistic afternoon to spend basking in each other, but he could not ingest his guilt knowing he had just murdered her best friend in cold blood.

Turning on her tv, he watched the news. So far there were no reports of a murder in Pacific Heights. A fact that would likely change any moment, but for now he was safe.

Why did he have to do it? He knew she would be devastated by the news; this would surely cause her pain. In the end she would learn the cruel truth, but he was not ready to let go of her.

Looked out over the darkness, the water was as dark and cold as his soul. Would he ever be able to let go? He knew he never could. She was the only person that ever loved him unconditionally. His father loved him, but not enough to take him away from his overbearing mother. Of course his mother loved him, but had unrealistic expectations of him. As he thought of his mother, he closed his eyes. Why could she never just accept him for the way he was? He did not wish to be anybody special or to do great things. He only wanted to be Gabriel. He tried and tried to please his mother, but there was just no making a miserable woman happy.

Sitting down hard on the couch, he put his face in his hands. No matter how he struggled, Greg's words taunted him; the cruel reality was Greg had spoken the truth. He did not deserve her. She needed a good man. Someone better than he. He was a liability in her life and he hated himself for making it so. If he stayed, he would only succeed in making her life unhappy. God, he wanted to be the man she married. She wanted a house by the waterfront with children. He sadly smiled as he remembered her talking about getting a Rottweiler and naming it Zeus. But he knew he could never give her that life. And if he stayed, she would never find the man that could.

Standing up, arms folded behind his head, he walked toward her bedroom. He looked at the bed where he lay holding her every night. He closed his eyes. The thought of his life without her brought agony to his heart.

"By staying here, I have made her life hell." He thought to himself. "I know what I have to do." Again the tears filled his eyes and he wept uncontrollably.

He heard her key in the door. Quickly he regained composure and lay on the couch pretending to be asleep.

Seeing him laying there, she smiled. She walked over putting a blanket over him, kissing him softly on the forehead. To her surprise he pulled her on top of him and kissed her intensely.

"He's awake." She smiled lying next to him snuggling. "Have you been here all day?"

"I took a ride to the city to meet with a client." Again he lied to her. "I just got back a little bit ago. I missed you." He told her kissing her again. He saw she was covered with bruises. He sat up in shock looking her over. She looked like she had marks all over her body. "My God Laura!" He said shocked. "What happened? Here, lie down!"

"No, I'm fine. Really." She smiled sitting up.

"Like hell you are!" He disputed her reassurance. "Where did you get those bruises?"

"I'd rather show you." She stood up. "Throw something at me…anything!"

"What?" He asked taken aback.

"Michael, just do it." She demanded. "If it makes you feel better, throw something soft."

"Ok." He replied out of curiosity. Looking around, he picked up a pillow and tossed it at her. She raised her arm as if to block it and without touching her, it went flying the other direction away from her.

He stood astonished starring for a moment. "That's incredible!"

"That's nothing." She said enthusiastically. "Pick up one of those knives and throw it at my feet."

"Are you crazy?" He replied angrily. "I am not throwing a knife at you."

"Michael, I won't get hurt. Please. Just do what I ask."

"Are you sure about this?" He asked her.

"I wouldn't ask you to if I wasn't." She replied.

Reluctantly, he picked up a large kitchen knife. It brought back memories of Greg, but he did as she asked and hurled it toward her feet.

To his amazement she jumped up and hovered in mid air for a long moment, then lowered herself back down.

"How in the f…" He was completely incredulous. "That's fantastic! Did you just uncover this power?"

"Yes, and it explains the bruises." She smiled.

"Somebody missed with the hard objects?" He laughed.

"No." She replied continuing. "The courier came in to the office this morning and decided he liked my package better than the one I was sending with him."

He became angry. "Who was he? Did he touch you?"

"Calm down baby. He didn't have a chance to do anything to me. I kicked his ass and he ran away screaming like a little girl!" She smiled. "Besides, I have a feeling it was like a test of some sort."

"A test?" He repeated confused.

"Just call it intuition. I don't know how else to put it." She responded. "I guess I feel like I am getting these powers for a reason. I think this is a gift and if true I will be tested for worthiness. Besides, I called my local contact with the Linderman Group and they did not send a courier."

He smiled. "I am glad to know my girl can take care of herself." He embraced her.

She snuggled into his arms. "I like having you take care of me better." She kissed him gently.

"Really?" He kissed her back.

"Um, hmm."

"I'm not doing anything right now." He kissed her neck, tantalizing her. "It seems a shame to waste a dark afternoon."

"You must have powers too." She said coyly. "You read my mind."

He picked her up and carried her, laying her gently on the bed.

They lay silently wrapped around each other. He thoughtfully stroked her shoulder.

"You're quiet." She broke the silence. "I've been telling you all about my day, but you haven't talked much. Are you ok?"

"I'm better than ok." He lied. "But, you're not going to like what I have to tell you."

She sat up and looked at him. "What?"

He sighed. "I have to fly to New York for a few days. I'm leaving in a few hours."

"You have to go away again?" She asked him sadly.

"Yeah." He pulled her in and kissed her softly. "I'm sorry."

"I hate it when you have to go." Snuggled next to him. "Only a few days?"

"Just a few days." He smiled. "And when I get back, there is something very important I want to talk to you about." Again, he lied to her. He didn't know if he was coming back from where he was going.

"Then you had better go so you can hurry up and get back here." She replied sadly.

"You just be here when I get back, ok." He kissed her deeply

"Ok. Go!" She replied. "I want you to go before I start to cry."

"I love you Laura." He kissed her once again and started walking toward the door.

"Michael." She called to him.

He turned and looked at her. "Yes?" He replied.

"I can't shake the feeling that I am making a mistake letting you go? Why do I have a horrible feeling about this?"

**End of Part VII**


	8. Sypnosis

To those of you who have been reading my story this far, from the very bottom of my heart…THANK YOU!

I thought this would be a good time to pause and give a little background into to my thought process of for creating this story. I have been fascinated with Sylar's character ever since the Six Month's Ago episode. Though I believe Sylar is deceitful, manipulative and dangerous; he is also handsome, sexy and has an irresistible allure to him. I believe somewhere deep inside there is good in him. We saw this in episode 21 and I believe the time he was traveling with Mohinder in Montana the times he showed kindness and gratitude had some validity to it.

Now mind you, I do not believe Sylar will ever become a good guy and I would not want to see him as such. He is just too good at being bad and Zachary Quinto is just phenomenal at bringing the abundant elements of Sylar to life. I see much potential to the character. He has shades of Braum Stroker's Dracula; another dark man who fell in love with a woman of geniality.

So this got me wondering; what if Sylar fell in love. What kind of woman would he fall in love with? What kind of woman could love him back? I actually gave this a lot of thought. Of course she would have to equal him in intelligence; he has no patience for stupidity. Also, she would have to be 180º of his character; she is good to his evil. Perhaps she would be somebody a little insecure and vulnerable. Every man wants to rescue a princess and Sylar yearns to be a hero. And if there ever was a woman who needed a hero, it is Laura. She has been carrying her father's world on her shoulders and he comes along and says to her "I will take care of you." Well, how can she resist? And of course she would have to be an SG. But once her powers manifested at some point would he want to take her power? What emotion would win; his love for her or his lust for power?

So the first issue I want to address is my OC Laura. I have received some constructive, but kind criticism via PM that she is a "Mary Sue". I do not disagree that she is. My apologies if she does come across too "perfect", however, this actually is intentional. As I said, I created a character who is ying to his yang. But as we chip away at her tough exterior, we discover she is not as perfect as she appears; she is forgetful, insecure, and afraid to step outside the wall she has created around herself and embrace who she truly is.

However, as different as these characters are, there are parallels: Sylar grew up in a toxic family environment with unrealistic expectations placed upon him keeping him from being who he wanted to be or could have been. The conflict in his life came from a father who likely expected him to be a watchmaker and follow in his footsteps and a wacky mother who went above any kind of realistic expectations of him. Laura grew up in a nurturing family environment with similar expectations; a father who owned a large company. She was an only child so of course there were expectations. When she came into her inheritance, Laura was only 24; an age where she was still trying to figure out who she was and now she has the world on her shoulders trying to keep her father's dream alive, while sacrificing he own dream of having a family of her own. Her mother was also an SG. She gave up on her own dreams so that Laura could realize her own someday. So they are two people who grew up with a lot expected of them from the world. But circumstance made them the people they are.

I have several chapters left to write and it So now Sylar has murdered her best friend. Supposedly he has destroyed the evidence…or has he? Where is Sylar off to? Is he ever coming back? Will Laura fight for the good, or when she learns the truth will her love for him take her to a dark place, or will her goodness bring him into her world?

Wait and see…I promise you will love it. 


	9. Chapter 8

1Tortured Souls

Part VIII – The Quickening

Taku Yamagati sat in front of the fireplace. The night was cold and foggy. Closing his eyes, he could hear the fog horns on the bay. The sounds usually soothed his senses, but tonight it gave way to the sinister feel of the night air. Yes, it was coming. Change was in the air.

"It will be anytime now." He said aloud.

He heard footsteps coming into the room. "Is there anything I can get for you, Mr. Yamagati?" Candice asked him.

"No thank you, my dear Candice." Patting her hand. "Why are you wasting your Saturday night with an old man like me instead of out on the town as you should be?"

"Because, I know what is about to happen." She replied. "And I know you will need a friend." She smiled hugging him from behind.

"It hurts me deeply." He said with tears in his eyes. "I have loved that girl like my own child and I know there is nothing I can do to stop it. But it is her prophecy and she has to endure the pain."

"Has she learned about Mr. Andrews yet?" Candice asked him.

"No." His reply was thoughtful. "And we need to keep it that way until the time is right." Turning he looked at Candice. "I know you will see to it that it does."

"Yes, I will." Candice assured him.

A moment later, the phone rang. He answered it slowly.

"Hello." He spoke into the receiver.

"Kiyoshi, it's me, Laura." He could hear her voice sounded apprehensive and she had been crying.

"Laura." He closed his eyes. "What is it?"

"I really need to see you." She cried into the phone. "I really didn't mean to call you so late. I don't' know what to do. There are so many things happening and I have nobody else to talk to."

"Of course." He replied. "Meet me in the Marin Headlands at midnight."

"The Headlands? At midnight?" She repeated incredulity. "You're shitting me, right. I know you can see the fog out there?"

"It is no joke, Laura." He answered dryly. "I know it sounds strange, but I really need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

"I guess I have no choice." She answered sounding irritated.

"That's the girl I know." He replied. "Midnight. Vista point."

"I'll be there." She hung up.

Mr. Yamagati hung up the phone. His eyes began to fill up with tears.

The cold fog cut through her skin like a jagged blade, but Laura could not be more contented as she rode on the top deck of the ferry. She snuggled under Michael's hooded Chicago Bears sweatshirt with her legs under her. Through the fog she could dimly make out the lights of the city. To this day the lights of San Francisco at night were the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. She was by herself up on the top deck of the boat. It could be a dangerous place for a young woman, but tonight she was in no mood to be messed with, and she pitied anybody who dared to try.

For the first time since she left the seclusion of her house, she was happy Mr. Yamagati insisted she meet him in Marin County. At first she was angry; after all, it was closer to his home in Tiburon than it was to hers in Oakland. She really wanted to spend the evening, drinking an entire bottle of wine to kill her depression of Michael leaving suddenly, but she obediently took the ferry ride across the bay. However, there was something restorative about being out in the cold night air in the solitude of the fog. There were those who thought the fog brought about an evil tone to the night sky, but to Laura it soothed her angry spirit. She was able to focus and relax for the first time all day. She was now fairly certain this is why Mr. Yamagati had asked her to make the journey.

Slowly and thoughtfully she stood up and walked over to the rail. Looking over the side, she could hear the vessel splashing through the water as it streaked the sides moving closer to their destination. A sound she loved. The water was choppy tonight and the winds had picked up. She could see the fog starting to clear in the distance.

Once again starring at the haze of lights she thought of Michael and how she could not shake the feeling of dread she felt as he left for the airport. When they made love this afternoon he seemed was distracted again. Perhaps he was not looking forward to his trip to New York and having to leave her behind again. But as he turned around and walked through the door, she had a bad feeling like things would never be the same.

Closing her eyes, she a sad smile came across her face as she thought about him. Every time she looked at him, she fell in love a little bit more. She leaned against the rail looking across the bay tonight; she could see the light of the moon barely above the fog like it was melting into the landscape. It had only been a few hours since he had left her for New York, but she longingly ached for his touch. She snuggled under his sweatshirt. It was Raiders territory, she didn't care; it still smelled like him. He always loved it when she wore his shirts because he liked the way they smelled when she gave them back to him.

The sweatshirt reminded her of the day she met him. She thought about the conversation they had at dinner that night.

"No more!" She laughed when he tried to pour her some more wine. "Oh GOD, no more! I'm about to go crazy!"

"Are you going to start dancing on the tables?" He asked laughing still trying to give her more.

"I am liable to do just about anything after I have had more than 2 glasses." She smiled mischievously.

"Anything?" He asked hopefully.

"I think your trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me." She teased him.

"Maybe". He replied softly.

She could tell he was getting turned on thinking about what she would do. And she wanted to rip his clothes off right then and there. "Ok, subject change...so how bout those Raiders?"

"I'm a Bears fan." He replied taking a sip.

"Well there you go, we have something in common already! Both of our teams suck!"

"Hey, speak for yourself!" He laughed. "At least my team has been in a playoff in the last 5 years!"

"Touche!" She replied taking a sip of wine and clinking glasses with him.

"You know, your cheeks are really pink right now." He told her sensuously. "Are you embarrassed?"

"Embarrassed?" She replied. "No. But maybe a little..." She stopped.

He leaned closer to her. "A little….what?" He asked hopefully.

She looked around nervously. "It looks like they are getting ready to close. I think we better get out of here."

"Yes." He agreed looking at her expectantly. "I think we need to get out of here…NOW!" Looking into his dark, sensuous eyes, she thought she was going to melt right there. She smiled remembering how it felt when they made love the first time. Every time got better and better. She knew second she saw his breath-taking smile that night he was the one she had waited for all her life; her soul mate. His touch set her soul on fire like nobody ever had before. If he died tomorrow, she knew deep in her soul she would never love anybody this way again.

The night that had soothed her spirits just a little while ago now left her feeling dark and lonely again. She sat down on the bench. It was wet, but she didn't' care. Burying her head in her knees, she softly began to cry. "I love you, Michael." She whispered to herself.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by the ringing of her phone. She did not recognize the number, but quickly drying her tears she answered anyway.

"Laura, this is Mohinder Suresh." Ah, the tall, dark and sexy doctor, she thought to herself. "I hope I'm not calling you too late."

"Dr. Suresh." She smiled. "I thought I had told you I wasn't interested in being a test subject."

"Laura, if you believe that, then you have missed the intention of my visit. I thought I made it clear I did not wish to use you for an experiment, but to outline your capabilities."

"Dr. Suresh…." She began.

"Please Laura, my father was Dr. Suresh, call me Mohinder."

"Ok, Mohinder." She replied. "What can you learn from me that you don't already know?"

"Well, my interest is in the fact that you appear to be capable of multiple powers." He continued. "I only know of two other cases where there are super genomes with multiple powers. One man who is able to empathically absorb powers from others and the other…well, he is somehow able to steal the powers of his victims after he kills them."

"Sylar." Laura replied.

"Yes, Sylar. Otherwise known as Gabriel Gray." He confirmed. "But you are the only case where I have heard of multiple abilities in an otherwise natural environment. I want to analyze your DNA and maybe I can find a link between you and the others."

"Your not going to cut me open or probe my brain, are you?" She asked half joking.

"Oh goodness, no." He laughed. "This isn't a Sci-Fi novel"

Recalling her conversation with Michael, she began to laugh as well.

"Ok." She replied with conviction. "I will submit to a blood test and maybe I'll pee in a cup. But you're not getting my organs!"

"I wouldn't dream of taking them." He laughed. "I am staying at the Embarcadero Hyatt. Give me a call when you are ready."

"Ok. Good night, Mohinder." She hung up the phone.

Her ride came to a close when the ferry pulled into the Sausalito harbor. The town of Sausalito was a small village, the last stop in Marin County before crossing the Golden Gate bridge into San Francisco. Even this late at night, it was alive with the hustle and bustle of locals and tourests. She was tempted to take a walk around the village, but her watch said 11:24. It was time to head up the hill to the lookout point. She hailed a taxi cab and headed toward the Marin Headlands Vista Point.

The taxi drove through the winding roads to the top of the headlands. It was a dangerous night due to he fog causing low visibility and wet roads. And the diver was taking the roads a little quicker than Laura would have liked. Finally he came to a stop at the top of the hill. Laura got out of the taxi and paid the driver.

"Are you sure you want to be alone up here?" He asked her. "It's not very safe up here tonight."

She smiled. "I'll be fine."

"Do you want me to wait for you?" The driver asked her.

"No, it's ok. Really. Thank you though."

The driver left.

By herself once again, Laura began to walk around. The vista point was a popular make out spot for the teenage crowd on Saturday nights, but tonight the fog made it a dangerous drive up. She could see the fog was clearing and right in the middle of the clearing stood Mr. Yamagati with his arms behind his back waiting for Laura.

Standing before him, she bowed to him.

"Did you bring the talisman?" He asked her.

She pulled the small velvet bag out of her back pack.

"Very good." He replied bowing back to her. "Tonight will unlock many of it's secrets. Are you ready to fulfill your destiny, Renshi Ryan?"

"Fulfill my destiny?" She was completely confused. "Look, I just came here because I needed to talk! I didn't sign up for this bullshit!"

"Laura, the confusion you are feeling is because you are coming into your powers." He replied thoughtfully. "Your destiny is calling you and you are afraid to embrace it. Tonight, you must let go of the fear."

"I like my fear." She replied. "It is safe and it is all I know."

"Then you may go!" He replied angrily. "All of the work we have done here has been for nothing." He stood up angrily he started to walk away, but to Laura's astonishment, he removed his sword from his sheath and brought it down at her head. Laura blocked and his sword swung out of his hand landing at his feet.

"Quite excellent!" He responded in amazement.

"Can I go now?" Laura asked angrily.

"You may leave anytime you wish." He told her flatly.

She stood up to leave. Reaching into his coat pocked, he hurled two Kamas at her back. She turned and grabbed them, doing a back flip. She threw them down at his feet. "No disrespect Kiyoshi, but I am REALLY in no mood for this. I just want to go home!"

"So, what is stopping you?" His tone was almost condescending.

"You are!" She shouted. "Every time I try to leave you throw sharp objects at me. I really don't want to do this. I just came here because I feel alone. I miss my mom…my dad…Michael. You are all I have right now."

"You are acting like a child, Laura." His words were angry. "You have a destiny. It is your legacy. And you want to throw it all away to go home and wallow in self pity. Your mother would be ashamed of you Laura. And I am ashamed of you right now!"

Now Laura was livid.

"You know what?" Seething as she spoke. "You're ashamed of me? FINE! I'm acting like a child? Well how in the HELL would I know what that feels like? I have never gotten to BE a child! My entire life was planned out for me! I didn't need to be a child because I was shoved right into adulthood. I was EXPECTED to become the perfect fighter! It was _expected_ of me again to go to Stanford, even thought I wanted to get away from home and go to Harvard! I had a full scholarship, you know! And then, BOOM! My father passes away and I am now _expected_ to become the CEO of his company! I wasn't ready! I didn't want to, but I did it! And through it all, you have all talked about some _fucking_ destiny that I must fulfill!"

In anger she walked toward him. "Did anybody ask me what _I_ wanted for my life? Don't answer that! Nobody asked me! I never WANTED to become a CEO! I never ASKED to become a warrior! And I never ASKED for this DAMN _destiny._"

She began to cry. "All I have ever wanted was just to be who I am! I am NOT a CEO! I didn't ask for these damn powers! And I certainly didn't invite these genetic experts, or the X-Men or whoever the hell they are, or this goddamned serial killer to track me down! I...AM...DONE, trying to fit into a mold I was never interested in conforming to in the first place! I...AM...DONE, running the company for my father...he is never coming back! And I...AM...DONE being put on a pedestal! I am not a trophy! I am not a science project! I am Laura Grace Ryan! " She screamed. "I just want to marry Michael! Get a dog! Maybe a horse or two! Have babies! I just want out!!! I don't want any of this bullshit!!! I...AM...DONE!!!"

As she screamed, lightening bolts lit up the sky and the fog began to dissipate. A cold wind swept through the headlands almost knocking her over. A glow began to grow from under her feet and rise up through her body. She was afraid.

"What is happening to me?" She asked Mr. Yamagati.

He smiled and approached her. "The Quickening."

"Make it stop!"

"There is no stopping it Laura. Tonight you embraced your true self. You have passed your test." He walked over with the Talisman in his hand.

"I don't understand." Confused she asked him. "I rejected my destiny tonight."

Mr. Yamagati smiled shaking his head. "Laura, you don't choose destiny, destiny chooses you. Tonight you became one with yourself. You stood up to your fears, rejecting that which holds you down and keeps you from moving forward! That was your true test. The only barrier that has kept you from finding your true self is _you_. It is _you_ who has put up the walls. It is _you_ who has stayed where you are. You have had the key the entire time. But tonight, you broke down the door and ran right through. Your powers could not fully manifest until you were ready. Well now, you are ready."

Removing the Talisman from its velvet bag, he handed it to her. "Accept your power Laura. It is waiting for you to embrace it."

Taking the Talisman from him, she walked and stood on the cliff. The fog was blowing away and she could see the Golden Gate Bridge. The lightening continued to strike. Intuitively, she took the Talisman in her hands and raised it up over her head; becoming one with the lightening. Closing her eyes, she felt the glow return to her body again. This time she let it seize her. It felt warm and powerful. It rose up through her entire body then up into the Talisman. Suddenly, a bolt of lightening shot up out of the Talisman into the night sky. Laura spread her arms out and allowed it to surround her. Tilting her head back, the light once again returned to the Talisman and covered her body. Then in a flash, it was gone. Overwhelmed, Laura fell to the ground.

Mr. Yamagati ran to his student. But before he could get there, she stood up. He barely recognized her. There was a new equanimity about her. Only a moment ago a frightened girl had stood there. But now a confident, poised young woman stood in her place. There was fire in her eyes.

Mr. Yamagati beamed with pride. "Let's see what you got!" He challenged her.

"Bring it on!" She smiled with confidence.

"Where are you weapons?" He asked her.

"I don't' need them!" She replied.

Once again he picked up his sword taking a swing at her. She jumped up in the air hovering above him kicking the sword out of his hand.

Mr. Yamagati stood in awe. "My God!" He whispered.

"Is that all you got, old man?" She tested him.

Picking up the spear, he ran at her full force. She reached out in tiger's claw formation; the spear vaporized. "Sorry…I'll buy you another one." She laughed.

"Time to break out the heavy artillery." He smiled. Reaching into his bag he removed an array of weapons. Knives, Kamas, Nunchukas, etc. Picking up the knives he began to quickly hurl them at her. Quicker than lightening, she blocked each knife. One knife got to her quicker than she could block; to both their astonishment, it bounced off her skin.

"Cool!" Laura beamed.

Before she could recover, he was behind her with the Nunchukas trying to strangle her. She closed her eyes; the Nunchukas disappeared from his hands into her hands. She came at him swinging them. He grabbed the ends and tried to flip her over. They disappeared. She did a triple backflip to the Kamas he had waiting for her. "You should never leave your weapons unattended in the presence of your foe." She mocked the words he always tried to instill into her. Kneeling down, she threw them up into the air. She jumped at least 10 feet into the air doing three backward somersaults and caught the Kamas in mid air, landing with one knee on the ground.

She stood and bowed to her master.

"No." Mr. Yamagati stopped her. "It is I who now will bow to you. Take your place before me."

Laura was stunned. "I always will bow to you. You are the master."

Mr. Yamagati sadly shook his head. "There is no more I can teach you, Renshi. You have surpassed my knowledge. You have embraced your powers. Our journey together ends here, tonight."

"I don't understand." She began to cry. "You have been with me almost all my life. Please, don't tell me I'm never going to see you again."

Standing before her, he put his hands on her shoulders. "I will always be there if you need me, Laura. But tonight, I have taught my last pupil. You are no longer a scion. You are now completely mature in your power.

He took his Katana sword from his hip, kneeled down and laid it at her feet.

"I can't take this from you!" Protesting to him. "Your father gave this to you."

"Laura, my father gave me this sword when he felt I was ready and I had exceeded his strengths. My wife and I never had children of our own. You were the closest thing I have ever had to having a daughter. And if you were my daughter, I could not be more proud of you than I am tonight. Our journey has been long and difficult at times. But you have weathered every storm."

He stood before her one last time. "Take the sword Laura. And someday pass it on to your own child, or one you find worthy. I know you will do it proud." He held it out to her. She took it hesitantly at first, but then she removed it from its sheath and studied it.

"It is a powerful weapon." She said modestly. "I will cherish it until the day I pass it on." She turned to look at him…he was gone.

Again, she was alone. But she was not afraid.

Mr. Yamagati walked back into his house. He stood in the doorway and began to weep.

Candice heard him come in. She stood up from where she was reading and walked over to him. "Are you going to be ok?"

"Of course I will, my dear." He replied patting her hand.

"Will you see her again?" She asked. "Before…"

"Yes." His reply was gentle. "She has one more test to go through before she is complete."

"To kill Sylar?" Candice asked hopefully.

"No." Closing his eyes. "To love him."

"I don't understand." She asked confused. "She already does love him."

Mr. Yamagati did not answer. He only smiled. He began to cough deep in his chest.

"You over did it again." She scolded him. "You need to get back on the oxygen."

Candice led Mr. Yamagati down the hall to his room which was set up like a hospital room. She helped him into his night clothes, then hooked him up to the oxygen. She put an IV in his arm and gently stroked his head. She knew it would not be much longer.

** END OF CHAPTER VIII **


	10. Chapter 9

**Tortured Souls**

Part IX - The Pact

Peter Petrelli woke up. Somebody was in the room with him! "Whose there?" He damanded.

In a chair next to the window he could see the outline of a man dressed in dark clothing.

"Who are you?" He demanded the visitor.

"An old friend, Petrelli." Sylar said coming into his view. Before he could say anything else, Sylar was quickly thrown against the wall with monster force, falling to the floor just as violent.

"Son of a BITCH! He shouted grabbing his arm in pain. "As you are about to find out, this is not necessary. I am not here to kill you. DAMMIT!!! I think you broke my arm!"

"Really! And what in the hell makes you think I am going to believe you?" Peter sneered angrily at him. "You have tried to kill me, my brother, my niece, you killed Issac Mendez and countless others, you asshole! So you will have to forgive me if I don't really give a shit about your comfort level at the moment!"

"KISS MY ASS, PETRELLI!!!". Sylar shouted back at him. "But if I were here to kill you, you would be dead! You KNOW what I am capable of. So I think you will want to hear what I have to say."

Peter stared at him for a moment. "Fine". He said finally. "If no other reason than for morbid curiosity I am interested. But if you try anything….you lying sack of shit".

"You have my word… "Sylar assured him.

Peter glared at him.

"Yeah…I wouldn't buy it either." He said dryly.

"Ok." Peter acknowledged. "You got the floor. Have at it!"

He stood up, walking to the window. "Three months ago, I met a woman..."

"Yeah, Laura Ryan." Peter replied. "We know all about her."

Sylar turned around in astonishment. Taking a moment to allow Peter's words to process, he continued. "Well, if you know about her, then you have to know that I love her."

"Yeah." Peter said calmly. "I really believe you do."

"I don't even know how many people I have killed anymore. I don't remember all their faces, or their names." He continued. "I would have killed for power and not even given it a second thought. I didn't care about who they were, their families, children. It didn't matter. They had what I wanted and those details were purely useless to me."

Sylar stood up, looking thoughtful at Peter. "The day I met her, everything changed. The insane part of this is that I went looking for her because she was on Dr. Suresh's list. I was going to kill her." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as if to hold back tears. "If I never saw her face, if I didn't see her eyes…but I did. At that very moment she took my soul; along with my desire for power. Or so I thought."

Peter watched Sylar in amazement. This was a man he feared and hated. Not long ago, they had fought countless ineffective battles to kill each other. The OWI had formed a union to put a stop to Sylar once and for all. But ironically there he stood in front of him. Hardly the frightening man they had all come to fear.

"There was a time not so long ago, that I was not this evil life form you have come to despise, Peter. Before this evil took me over, I was probably somebody you saw on the street every day and never gave a second thought to. Maybe you came in my shop." Walking back to the chair, he slumped down, leaning forward, hands folded thoughtfully. "I grew up in a home with father who loved me, but not enough to take me when he left. I was left to be raised by my mother who wanted me to be...special...God, I have so learned to loathe that word! I had dreams just like everyone else. But, I was the son of a watchmaker. And the watchmaker's son became a watchmaker himself. I was actually good at it. When I was able to fix a timepiece that was particularly challenging, it made me happy. But I always had longed to be special; somebody who was going to save the world." He looked at Peter. "I wanted to be somebody like you, Peter."

Peter nodded in concurrence.

He continued. "The irony of all this, is that if she had met me when I was a watchmaker, I would have been crazy about her." He laughed spitefully. "Sure, she would have been kind and talked to me, but don't think she would have loved me. It took me becoming a killer and a fraud for her to fall in love with me."

He continued speaking. "I thought it was over. I thought maybe I could stop. Have a normal life, with her. But it all started to go wrong. Her power manifested. And I found myself wanting her power!" He could no longer hold back the tears. "I actually contemplated killing her to take her power for myself!" He put his hands over his face and slumped down in the chair, sobbing uncontrollably.

"And today it all came back. And I realized this is all I will ever be; a cold blooded murderer! Her best friend figured out who I was. He was like a brother to her and I killed him." He stood in rage. "He was a friend that she cherished. But I couldn't have her finding out about me. But what the FUCK did it matter! She is going to know what I am; It is only a matter of time. What is a few days? I didn't have to kill him! DAMMIT!!!!" He slammed his fist through a wall.

He continued. "I would give anything in the world for her to never know who I am." But this is my atonement in this life for my sins against mankind." He almost whispered. "I have to let her go."

Peter finally spoke. "So what do you want from me?"

Sylar turned and looked at him. Walking over to him, he stood squarely in front of him. "I want you to kill me. I want to protect the world from me so I can never hurt or kill her, or anybody ever again. And…."

He took a deep breath and tried to regain composure.

"And I want you to take every memory of me from her life so she will never remember I ever existed. I know you guys can do that" He broke down. "I will never be able to marry her or give her the life she wants. This is the only good thing I can ever do for her."

Peter stood astonished for a moment, and then he spoke. "Holy crap! I don't even know what to say. There was a time I would have killed you in a heartbeat to take your evil heart out of this world for good. But…wow! This is…." He was at a loss for words.

"Pathetic?" Sylar sneered angrily. "I am sure you are just enjoying the shit out of this, aren't you?"

"No, frankly, I am not." Peter said softly. "God knows I hate you. I know what you are and what you are capable of. There is nothing in the world I want more than to see you dead. But I have also loved before and…well, this….this is the ultimate sacrifice, man. I guess I just never thought you were capable of loving somebody like this."

"I never thought I was capable of loving a woman like this either." Sylar smiled sadly. "She is the only one in this life I have ever really loved. Or has ever loved me back. I don't deserve her."

Peter walked toward him slowly. "Can I ask you something? Why wouldn't you just take her and run away somewhere? You have the power to change yourself, why wouldn't you do that?"

Sylar turned and looked at him. "Because, she deserves better than what I can give her. She is everything good. And I would do nothing but bring her into my world. I don't want that for her. She wants to get married, have kids, a dog...the whole package. You have no idea how much I want to give this to her. If I'm not in the picture, she can have that life."

Standing in front of Peter once again. "Look, I realize I have no right asking you for any favors. Lord knows I don't deserve forgiveness and you have no reason to want to help me. But Peter, will you do this for me?"

Peter thought for a moment. He could not believe what he was hearing. Peter knew he had been a good man once, but all of the lives he had taken, all of the blood spilled. He could see the remorse in his eyes. This was a man who knew what he was and had come to him to end it all. To save the world from him. To save her.

Thoughtfully, Peter folded his arms. "Are you sure about this?" He asked softly.

Sylar nodded. "It is the only way." He whispered sadly.

Peter sighed. "You realize if we clear her memory of you, if we go deep, she will not remember anything about you. Can you really do that?"

He closed his eyes. "Peter, she is the only one that has ever really loved me. Despite what I am, we share a love that is very rare; it's so profound sometimes I have to ask myself if she is real. If I left her and never came back, or if I died, it would paralyze her in grief. She told me once she mates for life." He smiled remembering. "I know if something ever happened to me, she would not be able to move on with somebody else. So to answer your question Peter; I have to do it; there is no other way."

Peter thought for a moment. "Ok." He finally said. "But I need to follow proper channels. I'll call Bennett and the others and we'll come up with a plan of action."

He took a few steps closer to him. "When do you want to do this?"

Sylar thought hard. "Give me 48 hours." He replied, broken.

Peter nodded. "So what are you going to do now?" He asked him.

"Im going to catch the first flight out in the morning, then I am going to go back home and love her every second I can." He replied hollowly.

Peter actually felt sympathy for him. The evil man who had tried to kill his family stood before him; a shell of his former self. Peter touched his arm. "Look, what if I told you that I could get you there faster?"

"Sylar looked at him intrigued."

* * *

A moment later, Sylar was standing in his apartment accompanied by Hiro Nakamura, who Peter and called to teleport him there.

"That was BITCHIN!!!!" He said excitedly. "You are lucky I turned over a new leaf, or you would be..." Hiro glared at him. "Sorry."

"What you do, Sylar, it very brave thing." Hiro told him.

Sylar managed a half smile. "Look Hiro, I know I have caused you pain. Maybe it is hollow now, but for whatever it is worth, I am sorry."

Hiro, approached him. "I believe you truly sorry. I sorry, I stab you."

"Water under the bridge." Sylar replied.

"I must go back." Hiro answered. "I wish you peace." Holding up his hand, he gave him the Vulcan hand symbol.

"Thanks for the ride." Sylar replied, somewhat amused.

Hiro bowed, and he was off.

* * *

Peter logged into his laptop. Hiro returned Sylar back to California and he had work to do. Of course, he now could teleport and could have taken him home himself, but he felt this was the most important at the moment.

Impatiently, he clicked on his Outlook icon. When it finally came up, he started a new mesage:

_**Peter: Hana, I hope you are out there. Please respond.**_

_**Hana: If this is a booty call, I'm not available. **_

_**Peter: Your still pissed at me about standing you up the other night? I already told you it couldn't be helped. Again, I am sorry.**_

_**Hana: This is the second time.**_

_**Peter: Hey, I'll make it up to you; I always do But look, we have more important matters to discuss.**_

_**Hana: Go ahead**_

_**Peter: Get a hold of everybody. Tell them to meet me in the chat room in 15 minutes.**_

_**Hana: Got it! What is the code word?**_

_**Peter: SYLAR**_

_**Hana: Are you serious?**_

_**Peter: I'll explain everything. Alert the others.**_

_**Hana: Ok. See you in 15. I'm out!**_

_**Petrelli: Ok. Roll call. Who's here?**_

_**youcantseemeiminvisible: **_

_**Suresh: Present**_

_**Bennett 1: Here**_

_**parkman: Yo**_

_**DL/Niki: We're here**_

_**Wireless: here**_

_**FBI Gal: Here**_

_**Hiro: I am here**_

_**Petrelli: We have a situation that is going to be going down fast. Tonight, I got a visit from Sylar...NOW BEFORE YOU ALL START BUZZING IN WITH YOUR COMMENTS, here me out!**_

_**Petrelli: The guy came to me a little while ago. He has asked to be put to death. He wants to do this to protect Laura Ryan and to keep him from killing anybody again in the future. AND, he would like us to erase her memories of him.**_

_**parkman: so what did you use to kill him? gun; or a taste of his own medicine**_

_**Petrelli: I let him leave and go home to her. He asked me for 48 hours. Hiro teleported him home.**_

_**Bennett1: Well, there goes that chance.**_

_**youcantseemeiminvisible: I knew he was too soft! **_

_**Petrelli: People...SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!! I said to hear me out. Don't worry...he won't back out. **_

_**Suresh: You can't trust him. The man is a ...! **_

_**Petrelli: Look, you guys weren't there. You didn't see him; you didn't see his eyes. This was for real, man. The guy was devastated. He loves her and he is afraid he will kill her if he lives. He wants her to be able to have a life without him and the only way he can do that is by us taking her memories of him.**_

_**Hiro: Peter speaks truth. I saw him tonight. He very sad man. No hate, in his eyes. **_

_**FBI Gal: It sounds like a win/win to me. We finally rid the world of Sylar, and with him out of the picture, maybe we can finally recruit Laura Ryan.**_

_**youcantseemeiminvisible: I have no problem with it.**_

_**Bennett1: Yeah, me either. **_

_**Suresh: What does he need 48 hours for?**_

_**Petrelli: The guy is giving up his own life for a woman he loves more than his lust for power. What would you need it for? **_

_**Bennett1: Ok, so 48 hours. We have Molly keep track of him. Then we pick him up. We send The Hatian and Candice to clean things up and take her memories. **_

_**DL/Niki: Ok, I have a huge problem with this. Has anybody even given any REAL thought to this at all? **_

_**Suresh: What do you mean, Niki?**_

_**DL/Niki: Well, for starters, after the Hatian does his thing, how are we going to explain the last 3 months of her life? Things have happened! Candice told us tonight her transformation is nearly complete. We can't have her just not remember. And...um...maybe she won't remember him, or their time together, but it wasn't in her head that she loved him. He is in her soul. Is that going to go away? I don't feel we have her best interest in mind at all here. And isn't that part of what we are here for?**_

_**youcantseemeiminvisible: look we rid the world of Grey...everything else we can handle. I don't see a problem here at all**_

_**Petrelli: Well, Niki has a point. We need to figure this out...**_

_**Bennett1: I have an idea...**_

**End of Chapter IX**


	11. Chapter 10

1Tortured Souls

Part X – The Long Kiss Goodbye

Three-thirty a.m. For a moment he stood there, hand on her door. Taking a deep breath, he somehow found the nerve to open the door.

He had hoped to find her in bed, where he would crawl in next to her, surprising her; certainly sending them both into a feverish oblivion. But what he found was less than the romantic ideal he had anticipated.

He laughed when he saw her appearance. Lying on the couch, her hair was partially in a pony tail, but very messed up like she had walked through a wind tunnel. She wore her red Sanford sweatshirt, and to his delight, a pair of black lacy panties. Reaching down, he softly stroked her face causing her to stir. He looked around the scene and saw exactly what he was looking for; two empty pints of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ice cream and a box of kleenex with several wadded on the floor. "Emotional breakdown." He laughed to himself.

He just wanted to put his arms around her and hold her. He would satisfy his other urges later, but he knew she needed him and his was the last time he could do this for her. He would be at her side until it was time to come and pry him away.

"Michael?" Came her whisper behind him.

"Hey." He said quietly, kneeling down next to her, stroking her face and hair. Sitting up, she flung her arms around him and began to weep uncontrollably.

"Baby, what's wrong?" He moved so he could see her, gently holding her face in his hands.

"I had this horrible feeling when you left that you were never coming home." She touched his face. "Are you real?"

"Of course I'm real." He told her. Sadly he knew her premonition was true. After tomorrow he would have to leave her forever. But for now he was with her. Closing his eyes, he put his impending destiny out of his mind and came back to the moment.

She looked at him confused. "You just left here last night. How did you get back here so quickly?"

"Well." He began his latest deception. "When I got off the plane to make my connection in Minneapolis, I had a message from my client. His wife was in labor and asked if we could reschedule, so I hopped on the next plane home."

"Why didn't you call me." She stroked his face.

"What, and miss all this?" He smiled in jest.

"Oh my GOD, I must look horrible!" Putting her hands over her face.

"You could never look horrible." He removed her hands kissing her softly. "What in the hell did you do last night?" He laughed.

"Well...it is a very long story." She thought about the quickening, but decided not to tell him about it for now. "I'll tell you about it later on, but you look exhausted and right now here is nothing more I want to do than climb into bed with your arms around me, and just sleep in each others arms."

"You read my mind." Pulling her in he kissed her, holding her close to him. Then he picked her up and carried her in the bedroom. He gently placed her in bed, taking his clothes off, he lay down beside her. She snuggled close with her head against his chest. They didn't speak. They lay together, caressing each other and looking into each others eyes. Finally she drifted asleep. Softly, he cried to himself.

Several hours later he woke up. She was already awake in the kitchen. The clock said 2:00pm.

He dressed and walked out to join her. He snuck up behind her, putting his arms around her waist. He got an elbow in the rib cage causing him to double over in pain. The pain from being thrown against the wall by Peter last night was still fresh and this didn't help. "Well, that wasn't quite the reaction I was looking for." He nuzzled her neck. "But it's kind of a turn on when you get rough."

She turned and faced him. "Well, you should know better than to sneak up on a girl with a black belt." She kissed him softly. "I'm sorry. Are you ok?" She lifted up his shirt. He tried to stop her, but it was too late. She saw the huge bruise that went from his right rib cage around his back he received by Peter throwing him against the wall.

"Well, I didn't do this." Looking to him for answers. "Where in the hell did that bad boy come from?" She demanded.

Thinking quickly. "I was a little late for the plane and I had to run to the gate. Just as I was boarding, they started taking away the walkway. Well, I was not going to miss my flight and getting home to my girl, so I hurdled it onto the plane...slamming right into the rail on the walkway on the way down!"

"Well, I'm flattered, but seriously...Ouch!" She studied it. "You put ice on it, right?"

"Well, I had a beautiful flight attendant catering to my every whim..." He teased. "She was all over me. I think she wanted me."

"Do I need to track her down and kick her ass?" She replied in mock jealousy.

"Nah, I fought her off." He pulled her in close. "I told her my girlfriend had a blackbelt and she backed off."

"Smart girl." She laughed kissing him gently. "You probably saved her life."

Thankfully, she bought it.

"So, what's for...uh...what meal is this anyway?" Scratching his head.

"Probably all three wrapped into one." She replied demurely. "I plan to keep you busy all night."

"I should go away more often." He said, looking sadly to himself. "So what are we having?"

"Frozen pizza and buffalo wings." She said checking their progress. "I thought we would have a carpet picnic."

"Yeah, I think our carpet is the only picnic ground we haven't been banned from." He said rubbing her arms.

"Well, if somebody could learn to keep his hands to himself." She whacked him with a spoon. "I think we have worn out our welcome forever at Lake Chabot."

"Well, it's just as well; those rocks weren't very comfortable anyway." He remembered reaching under her shirt.

"What are _**you**_ talking about...I was the one that was..." She was interrupted by him pulling her into a powerful kiss.

"This conversation is making me very hot..." He began undressing her, then picking her up, he carried her to the couch pulling her on top of him.

"Ouch!!!" He shouted in pain. "Control yourself woman! Watch the bruise."

"Don't be such a wimp." She teased beginning to rip his clothes off.

He lay there holding her, silently stroking her shoulder. He could hear her heart beating, a sound that usually soothed his soul, but tonight was breaking his heart. It was taking every effort he had not to break down. Tonight needed to be special.

"I hope you weren't hungry." She laughed. "I think we just ruined dinner."

"Oh, I was hungry alright." He gently kissed her. "But I got what I was after."

"Well, neither one of us has eaten all day." She returned his kiss. "We need some energy before round two!"

"Why don't we get out of here for a little while?" He asked out of the blue. "Let's go get something to eat and take a walk around the waterfront. We haven't done that in a long time. In fact...I don't think we have done that since the night we met."

She looked at him stunned. "YOU...want to go out."

"Yeah, it's a beautiful night and I think we could use some air." He smiled mysteriously.

"Oh my GOD! I look like hell." She hid her face under the pillows.

"Well, you don't look like hell!" He removed the pillows kissing her forehead. "But you are kinda ripe. Why don't you go take a shower?"

"Only if you come with me?" She stood up pulling him with her.

"You are over-sexed, young lady!" He playfully protested.

"I'm working on it!" She replied.

A little while later they were snuggling on a rock by the waterfront over looking the lights of San Francisco in the distance.

"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?" She asked him.

"Yes, I have." He smiled, pulling her in kissing her. "You are always are very relaxed when you get around the water. You love it, don't you?"

"Yeah." She smiled distantly. "When I was a kid, my mom and dad had a vacation house on Balboa Island; that's down by San Diego. I used to walk for miles on the beach and not even realize it. Sometimes it would get dark and they would have to come looking for me. The ocean is so wonderful and powerful."

"Just like you." He replied kissing her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too." Returning his kiss, she snuggled against his chest. "I have always loved coming down here at night. The city looks like jewels to me.

He got a coy look on his face and reached into his pocket and dropped something by her feet. "Well, look at that...I think one of those jewels just landed at your feet." He bent down and picked it up.

"Lets see..." He reached down and picked up a diamond ring. "Look at this...your right. They are jewels."

"Michael?" Laura looked at him, her green eyes tearing up.

"It looks like it may be your size too." He took her hand and put it on her finger. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "It fits." He whispered, smiling softly.

He gently pulled her around so she was facing him. She was crying now.

"Laura Grace Ryan...will you marry me?" He whispered.

She didn't even have to think about her answer. "Yes." Through her tears, she smiled brilliantly at him. "Yes, Michael, I will marry you." He pulled her in close then taking her face in his hands, kissed her softly. They melted into each others arms kissing passionately.

"We better get home before we get banned from this place too." She laughed.

"Yeah...because I _really_ can't keep my hands, or anything else, to myself much longer." He stood up quickly pulling her in kissing her again. He took her hand and quickly led her home.

Inside he was dying painfully. Perhaps it was all a cruel lie. He knew he would never be able to fulfill his promise to marry her; no matter how much he wanted to. Tomorrow he would be taken away from her and put to death and her memories of him would be erased forever. There was no other way.

Through the door they walked quietly. They turned and faced each other. There she stood before him. He looked deeply into her green eyes overflowing with love for him. Gently he touched her face and pulled in, just holding her for a moment. Pulling back again, he kissed her gently at first, each kiss becoming more and more intense.

He picked her up and carried her to the bed. Inside his heart was breaking. He knew this would be the last night they would spend together. Somewhere in the night would be the last time he would make love to her. It took every ounce of strength he had not to break down. Instead, he put his emotions into the moment.

He slowly undressed her, kissing every part of her body. She stood naked before him breathing softly with each kiss.

He could do nothing but stare at her. "My God you're beautiful."

"You're acting like you've never seen me naked before." She said softly.

"Every time I look at you, I die just a little bit inside." He whispered softly, beginning to tear up. "I never thought I could ever love you more than I did the day I first saw you, but right now I feel like my heart is going to explode."

He could see tears in her eyes. "Every time I look at you, you make me weak." She cried softly. She reached under his shirt and slowly took it off. "If you die tomorrow, I will never love anybody else. The moment I saw you I knew my heart would belong to you forever. God, I love you Michael."

Falling together, they melted into a fiery kiss. Their souls again became one together. Their love immortalized forever.

Daylight. He opened his eyes. She still lay sleeping in his arms beside him. His tears again spilled on the pillow. He watched her sleep; so happy and peaceful. Lost in the illusion that last night was the most wonderful night of her life; an illusion he created for her. A lie. And oh, how he could lie. How good at it he had become and he could do it so effortlessly. "How did you become this, Gabriel?" He thought to himself. "Where did you go?" But he knew the answer. Gabriel Gray had died the day he killed his mother. Maybe it wasn't his fault. Perhaps even she knew that. But he would never forget the look in her face, the fear in her eyes as she struggled with him. "All because you wanted me to be special, mom!" He thought to himself.

Was it only a year ago that Chandra Suresh first entered his shop? The day he was finally validated as a human being. Not the watchmakers son. Not the nerdy boy with the glasses who was always getting beaten up by the neighborhood boys. But as him. Gabriel Grey.

But that name wasn't special enough. No. He sealed his fate forever the moment Brian Davis came into his shop. "Gabriel…Gabriel Sylar." He recalled telling Brian Davis his name. A day that such a short time ago he had considered to be his defining moment was now became his burden; his curse. And here he was; almost a year to the day. To her he was special. And now her life would be changed forever. "Fuck you, Dr. Suresh! Fuck you! Fuck your damn list and may you burn in hell for what you have done to me!" He looked at her. "Why did you fall in love with me Laura?" He sobbed inside. "Why couldn't you look at me and turn up your nose like the other girls did?"

"Because you would of killed her too, you asshole." Replied the voice in his head. He put his hands over his ears to block it out.

He turned and looked at her again. How would he ever be able to leave her? Every moment he tried to think of another way. Like Peter said, run away somewhere. Start a new life. And then what? He would always be running away. That evil part of him could want to kill her again. No. It was no life for her. She was too good to have to live like that. He knew one day she would grow to hate him and the wonderful woman he had loved would grow cold and the light in her eyes would go out forever. He had exhausted every single possible scenario. There was just no way around it. He would not kill again. He would not kill her.

Slowly she began to stir. He dried his eyes and waited for her to wake up. Closing his eyes, he eased into his game face. She opened her eyes, kissing him softly.

"How long have you been awake?" She asked snuggling under the covers.

"Just a little while. I didn't have the heart to wake you." He answered gently caressing her. "I dreamed about you."

"Really?" She answered intrigued. "And what did I do to you in your dreams?"

"What didn't you do?" He gently teased her. "I was really trying to get to sleep in my dream and _you_ kept jumping my bones."

"Are you sure that wasn't that flight attendant?" She giggled hitting him with a pillow.

"No." He answered thoughtfully. "She was a blonde. She tried to get in there, but you were standing there in those sexy black undergarments you wear so well and started showing off some of those karate moves. I think you scared the shit out of her. I don't' think she'll be back."

"You dreamed of me wearing black lingerie doing karate moves?" She laughed

He closed his eyes dreamily. "Oh yeah…and it was HOT!" Once again climbing on top of her. "Just like I am right now."

And the morning ignited into a feverish ball of blissful ecstasy.

Laura jumped out of bed and began to get dressed.

"Your going into work today?" He asked her sadly.

"I wish I didn't have to, but I've got to." She replied dejectedly. "Greg and I have to meet with this little weasel from The Linderman group. Seriously, I want to wipe the floor with this guy's ass." She said pulling her clothes on. She sat down next to him, touching his face. "Besides, today I have some things I want to take care of. I think when we talk tonight you will be really proud of me."

"Are you kidding me?" He asked pulling her in close. "I'm always proud of you."

"I know." She said snuggling against him. "But the last few days I have had so many things happen to me. I know now it is time for me to stop living somebody else's dreams and start living for me." She smiled thoughtfully.

"That's my girl." He kissed her gently. She stood up and started getting dressed. He watched her, his heart breaking. This was it. She would soon walk out that door and out of his life forever.

"Oh shit! I forgot!" He jumped out of bed and threw his clothes on.

"What?" She smiled, continuing to dress.

"I completely forgot. I have another surprise for you at my place." He ran out the door.

She stood there starring after him, laughing. The way he was running around he was acting like a little boy. Almost as soon as he ran out the door, he slowly came back through.

"There is somebody I want you to meet." He said slyly.

"If it's that flight attendant, her ass is mine!" She teased.

He stood in front of her and pulled something from behind his back. It was the most adorable Rottweiler puppy she had ever seen.

"Oh my GOD!!! Michael! He's precious!" She beamed. She looked at the dog tag around his neck. "You named him Zeus! Just what I said I wanted to call my dog."

She turned and looked at him. "When did you do this?"

"Well, remember when I went to make a few phone calls at dinner last night? I actually ran to the jewelry store and picked up your ring. You didn't know it, but I picked out a few weeks ago and when I got in yesterday, I called them and told them it HAD to be ready tonight. When I told the couple that owned the shop what I was planning, they got right to work on it." He grabbed Zeus from her and scratched his ears. "Then on the way back, I saw this little guy's face looking out at me from a box and there was a dad and two little boys selling them. He was the last one. I felt it was fate stepping in again. So, I called Mrs. Gardner, gave her my key and she took him to my place."

"Oh no…this little guy's been alone all this time?" She asked.

"Um…yeah." He answered guiltily. "I got so wrapped up in our night together, I kind of forgot about him. I…ah…need to do some cleaning today."

She took Zeus back. "You _aren't_ getting your deposit back, you realize." She teased.

"That's ok." He smiled sadly. "I just wanted him here to look after you when I can't be here."

She smiled, closing her eyes she softly began to cry again. "Michael Walsh, do you have any idea how much I love you?" She whispered.

He put the puppy on the floor, pulled her in and held her tight. "If it is anywhere's close to how much I love you, then I am the luckiest man alive." He closed his eyes almost breaking down again. "You better go." He began shaking, his voice breaking.

"You be here when I get back." She told him, as always.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." He smiled sadly. He held her face in his hands, remembering every detail. She would burn in his heart for eternity. "Will you do one thing for me?" He asked her.

"What's that?" She asked kissing him gently.

With tears in his eyes he asked her. "If anything ever happens to me and I am not here to hold you at night; when somebody asks you if you were ever loved enough in your life, will you tell them that somebody once loved you enough to give his own life for you?" He asked sadly.

She looked at him puzzled, but answered him. "Yes." She embraced him. "Of course I will. But you had better be here until the day I die. I plan to grow very old with you and die together in bed when we are 100."

He could barely keep it together. "Go." He smiled. Once again he pulled her in kissing her. He held her one last time. He walked her toward the door.

"Why are you acting like you're never going to see me again?" She asked him.

"I just didn't want you to leave here today without knowing how much I love you." He replied.

"I love you, Michael." She said as she headed out the door.

He watched her start to go. He would not see her again. "Hey Mrs. Walsh!" He whispered to her. She smiled and turned around. "I love you."

She started to walk through the door.

Just as she started to walk away, she had that same feeling that things would not be the same. She closed the door and turned around and ran into his arms crying. He held her tight, not wanting to ever let her go. Looking in each others eyes, they kissed one last time. "Just promise me you will always be here."

"I will." He lied.

She turned and walked out the door.

When the door closed, he stood there for a moment. His heart breaking. He sat down on the couch, empty inside. Zeus climbed on his lap licking his tears away. He cuddled the pup and began sobbing.

When he was able to get his composure, he picked up the phone. "Peter?" He said. "It's me." Taking a deep breath. "I'm ready."

**End of Part X**


	12. Chapter 11

**Tortured Souls  
**Part XI – The Cold, Hard Truth

She sat alone in her office smiling to herself. Looking at the ring on her finger, she remembered the night before. It had been the most wonderful and happiest night of her life. Yet she sat here; that feeling of uneasiness came over here once again. Why did Michael seem so sad all morning? Why did he act like he was never going to see her again when she left? She had the same feeling of dread when he left for New York, but he returned just hours later. Perhaps her thoughts had no merit after all. "Why can't I shake this feeling?" She asked herself.

But it was 9:30 am. The meeting would begin in 30 minutes and Greg had not yet arrived. She tried again to call him, but there was no answer at his apartment or on his cell.

There was a knock at her door. Tracy came barging through without waiting to be invited. "Greg had better be laying in a ditch someplace or I'm going to kill him with my bare hands!" She ranted.

"Tracy, this is San Francisco. We don't have too many ditches in the city limits." Laura tried to calm her friend. "Did somebody whiz in your coffee this morning?"

"He was supposed to be here an hour ago to go over the Neiman Marcas renovation with me, but he didn't show." She said angrily. "Have you talked to him this weekend?"

"No." Laura smiled coyly. "I've been a little busy." She smiled easing her hand out where Tracy could see the ring on her finger.

Tracy let out a gasp, then a loud squeal as she hugged her. "Oh my GOD! I'm so happy for you! It's about time that boy bought the cow!"

Laura glared at her. "Bitch!"

"So tell me all about it! Where did he propose? Was it romantic?" She prodded her.

"Well, of the parts I _can_ tell you…oh who am I kidding! Hell YES! It was VERY romantic. He asked me down by the waterfront. I said yes, and then I promptly took him home and..." Laura whispered in Tracy's ear.

Tracy's eyes got big with excitement. "Oh YES!!! Now that's the kind of details I love to hear about!" She high-fived her friend. "So, when? Where? We need to figure this out, girl!"

"Well, I don't know yet." She answered thoughtfully. "We got so caught up in…um…other stuff we didn't really talk about details."

"Well, we have to find a dress…a church…a minister…." Tracy rushed ahead with the details.

"Tracy!" Laura brought her friend back to the present! "All in good time. We'll figure it out and you can help me." She took a deep breath. "I just want to get through today."

"What do you mean?" Tracy asked concerned.

Thoughtfully, she folded her arms. "Tracy. Do me a favor." She began. "I want all of the key staff members to be at that meeting this morning. All of my dad's friends, advisors. Anybody who has been with this company for a while who remembers my dad. And I especially want you there; I think I am going to make you very proud of me."

"You make me proud every day, sweetie." Tracy hugged her. "But something tells me this is going to be really good."

"Oh…it is." Laura smiled mysteriously. "Believe me…I am about to rock your world."

"I can't wait to see this. Ok, I'll go get everybody. See you in 10." She ran out the door.

It was now 10 minutes to the meeting start. Looking out the window and down at the street, she could see a limo pull up and 7 people got out, including Mr. Evans, Mr. Linderman's "right hand man".

"I got you right where I want you, you little weasel! Now, if only I could open this window and had a big bag of dog shit in my hand…" She grinned slightly maliciously.

Again, she became concerned. "Greg, where are you?" She looked at her watch, and then tried his cell once again. No answer. She could wait no longer. She began to pick up her portfolio, took two steps and decided to leave it right where it was and left for the meeting without it.

------

Laura walked into the conference room. Today was standing room only. She took her seat at the head of the table, shaking hands with Mr. Linderman's associates before taking a seat. As she sat down her eyes met squarely with Mr. Evans's. "Game on!" She thought to herself.

"Well, Miss Ryan," Mr. Evans began. "I didn't realize there were going to be so many people here this morning. I don't see Mr. Andrews. Will he be arriving shortly?"

"Well, I see this morning as an epic new beginning for Ryan and Associates and I wanted all of my father's key people who have been beside him for so many years to be here to witness this. As for my associate Mr. Andrews, I don't know, Mr. Evans." Laura began. "I have not heard from him all morning and truth be told, I am very concerned.

"Of course. Please let us know if there is anything we can do." He offered superficially.

"I'll do that." Laura replied derisively. "So Mr. Evans…why have you called this meeting."

"Ok, I am going to be brutally frank here, Miss Ryan." He began. Mr. Linderman is less than pleased with the level of commitment displayed by Ryan and Associates since you were selected to represent this project. I feel I have to give you notice that Mr. Linderman is thinking of hiring another firm to finish the job. And that said, it will be difficult for you to rebuild your reputation once Mr. Linderman gets word out that your shoddy workmanship and devotion to this project has been less than ideal. So that is what Mr. Linderman has to say. How say you, Miss Ryan?"

Laura leaned forward, folding her hands in front of her. "Shoddy workmanship. Lack of commitment. That's very interesting." She continued to lock eyes with him purposely trying to make him uncomfortable.

It was working. "Well, Miss Ryan" he began to bristle under his collar. "I am not here to make trouble for anybody. I am simply here to find a resolution so we can work together as a team."

"Really!" Laura spoke slowly. "A _resolution_! How very democratic of you."

Mr. Evans sighed. "Ok, Miss Ryan. I have come here to work with you, but your intimidation tactics have been less than benevolent and you have shown my position absolutely no consideration, therefore…"

"Therefore, I'll never work in this town again!" She said derisively. "I saw that movie too."

The employees exchanged laughter and snickers under their breaths.

"Miss Ryan, could I ask you exactly what your fucking problem is?" He asked her angrily standing up.

"Oh good, and the gloves come off…I have been waiting for this!" She stood up. "Carol, may I have that folder?" Carol handed her a manila envelope containing several faxes and documents. Laura took out its contents and threw it on the table.

"So you say our workmanship and attentiveness to this project has been 'less than ideal', I believe is what you said, is that right?" She jabbed at him. "Well, lookie what I have been collecting. Unanswered e-mails, phone messages, faxes. All to you, or Mr. Linderman. And not a response to boot! I personally put in a request to fly to New York to do a walkthrough of the Deveaux building. I believe your response was 'you'll get back to me'…you didn't get back to me. I have asked you for specs. I have not received specs. So Mr. Evans…without providing us with highly important details we need to do our jobs, how can you sit there and tell me we are providing 'less than ideal' results when it is very clear that we are not being provided with information to get our jobs done?"

"Well, I can assure you that any miscommunication is simply an oversight, Miss Ryan…."

"Oversight…right." Laura sat down again, sitting back in her chair, arms folded glaring at him. "That, or you are purposely are treating us like mushrooms." She said starring him down.

"Um…I don't understand the relevance of mushrooms to this conversation." He replied nervously.

"It means we are being fed a lot of bullshit and kept in the dark." She replied flatly, not shifting her eyes from him. The room came to life with snickers from the staff.

"I must say I find your tone quite offensive, Miss Ryan." He stammered.

"That's ok…I find your presence in the doors of my father's company offensive, Mr. Evans. And if you think, that you are going to try to acquire Ryan and Associates in a hostile take over, you are insanely deluded."

Gasps from the others filled the room. Tracy sat there with her mouth wide open in awe watching her friend not back down from her foe! "Yes Laura! Yes!!!" She thought to herself.

"I'm sure I have no indication what you are referring to, Miss Ryan." He responded haughtily.

"Well, let's see if I can refresh your memory." She threw down another folder in front of him. "It looks like somebody in the Linderman Group is illegally buying up shares. Yeah…it looks like you have acquired so far 29 of our company shares. So how say YOU, Mr. Evans?

"Just simply putting an investment in our interest." He coughed.

"Ok, I can understand that." She replied. "So how do you explain the fact that Mr. Linderman has been dead since November 8th, 2006, but somebody has been going through a lot of trouble to keep that secret?" She threw a copy of his death certificate on the table.

"Where did you get that?" He stammered.

"Does it really matter where I got it?" She asked. "The point is I got it and you are flat busted, you lying, candy ass, pussy whipped piece of crap! I got you!!!"

He looked like he wanted the room to open up and swallow him inside.

"Mr. Evans, you have been passing yourself off as Mr. Linderman acquiring business deals right and left, quite illegally I must add. And you have been setting up smaller corporations to fall by putting the word out that they have a bad reputation, and then you blackmail their shareholders to sell their shares to you eluding them that they can keep their jobs once you take over the company."

Everyone in the room was looking at Laura in complete astonishment wondering where this girl came from. Standing toe to toe with Mr. Evans, she was on fire. For the people who had watched this girl journey from a child into a savvy, confident woman, this was the day they knew would happen.

"You know Mr. Evans, ever since you accepted our proposal, you have been playing this little game of passive-aggressive pussy footing, trying to make us look like we are incompetent idiots. You have been rude to me, you have disrespectful to my employees and you have dared to desecrate the institution my father worked his entire life to build, just so you can have your little corporate garage sale, you nauseating, two-faced, back-stabbing, little prick!"

She stood up.

"Now, you get your ass out of that chair and get out of my father's company immediately, because you are not worthy to breathe the same air of the people I call my family." She stood in front of him. "Get out!" She said calmly but spitefully.

Mr. Evans picked up his belongings and put them into his briefcase and quickly began to walk out of the office.

"Oh and by the way, there is only one way out of this building and there is a big burley FBI agent standing in the lobby who has been dying to meet you. Have fun in San Quentin. Don't drop the soap!" He walked out and slammed the door followed by the rest of the Linderman thugs.

Laura stood there for a moment then fell down in the chair her heart pounding out of her chest. The room burst with thunderous applause!

"THAT…was epic!" Tracy screamed giving her a hug. "Where in the hell did that come from?"

"I really don't know." Laura answered her flabbergasted. "Greg and I have been getting suspicious. We both have heard rumors about Mr. Linderman, but we never had any proof to back it up. Then Greg started looking into Mr. Evan's activities and we became very suspicious. That combined with him being a sniveling little twit and not returning our phone calls. Lets face it…we were getting tired of the little weasel and decided to call him out on the playing field."

"But how in the hell did you get a copy of Mr. Linderman's death certificate?" She asked still in shock.

"Oh, that?" Laura smiled looking like she was going to burst. "It's my dad's. Photoshop. It's a beautiful thing! They burst out laughing. "See, Greg found that Mr. Linderman's jet flew from Vegas to New York on November 6th and when the jet returned, he was not on it."

"Well, I'll be damned!" Tracy shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, stick around...there are more surprises coming." She told her.

Laura stood up. "Could I have everyone's attention?" The room quieted down. "Everyone take a seat please."

"Thank you." She started. "I asked you all here today to be part of this reveal because you have worked alongside my father to make this company what it is, and you have continued to help us grow after my father's death by staying on after I took over the company." Laura began to get choked up, but continued.

"I know it could not have been easy to suddenly have a young girl taking over the rains of the firm after you had been working with my father for so many years. I really thought when you got the news that I was now in charge, many of you would leave." She smiled softly. "But you didn't. You stayed on and helped mentor me in keeping this company as successful as if my father never left. I have only provided the boat, but you all are the oars, the rutters and the wind in our sails. When people congratulate me on a job well done, I always tell them that I am just a face and a name; this company would not be what it was with out all of you. And I thank you all, from the very bottom of my heart for keeping us afloat."

She took a deep breath continuing. "That is why it is with mixed emotion I tell you, that effective noon today, I am resigning as Chief Executive Officer of Ryan and Associates." She stood in pause for a moment and the room came alive with shocked expressions and whispers going through the room.

"Laura, why? She could hear above the whispers.

"I have known many of you since I was just a little girl. After my mother died, you were all there and you have all become my family. I have loved working with all of you." Taking a deep breath. "But this company was somebody else's dream. I loved my father and I love this company, but my life is calling out to me and I can no longer ignore it. In fact, most of you do not know that as of last night, my boyfriend Michael Walsh, is now my fiancé." The room exploded in applause. Laura smiled. "I don't know what I am going to do, or where we will go once we become 'legal'. But I only know that I am going to start living my own dreams; and that includes have lots of babies."

"So, that said, I would like to announce my successor; Mr. John Darcy." The room applauded him loudly.

"Mr. Darcy, please come up here and take your seat." Laura gave him a hug and turned to the group once again. "So without further delay, I leave you now as I start the next chapter in my life and you with the man who should have had the job in the first place. I love you all. Thank you all for being there for me. I will miss you all terribly. Thank you."

She turned and walked from the room, tears now streaming down her face. They were partially tears of joy and partially tears of sadness. But she marched forward leaving her father's life behind her walking into her office for the last time. She quickly changed into her street clothes and took her hair down.

There was a knock at the door and Tracy came in. Laura smiled at her.

"Well there you go with your bad self!" Tracy looked at her proudly.

"The real me. No more dressing up in my mother's clothes to live my father's dream." She said a little sadly.

"Are you sure about this?" Tracy asked her.

Laura closed her eyes and nodded. "I am sure." She opened her eyes and looked at Tracy. "I told you that you would be proud of me."

"I was already proud of you." She walked over to her putting her hands on Laura's shoulders, tears starting. "But today, you made my buttons burst off of my blouse, girl." Tracy began to cry and hugged her. "You're going to have a wonderful life, Laura. I love you honey."

Laura stood back and looked at her. "I love you too." She touched Tracy's face and wiped her eyes.

There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in." Laura called out.

Mohinder Suresh came through the door. "Hubba Hubba!" Tracy said to Laura under her breath.

"Control yourself." Laura told her sternly.

"Mohinder." Laura shook his hand, looking at him puzzled. "Did we have an appointment I forgot about?"

"Well no". He replied. "But I am here about something important. Can we talk?"

"Sure. I'm sorry Mohinder, this is my friend and…well friend Tracy Bauer. Tracy, this is Dr. Mohinder Suresh. He is a genetics expert and he is researching people that are…well…like me." Laura smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you doctor." Tracy said a little flirty. "Now, my girl here is going to be a married woman soon, but if you're looking for some company while you're in town, come see me on the way out." Laura shook her head holding back laughter. Tracy left.

"I'm sorry Mohinder, I only keep her around for the comic relief you understand." She smiled. Mohinder looked pensive. "I take it this is not a social visit?" Laura said studying his face.

"Laura, I'm afraid I have some terrible news and there is just no easy way to say this." He took a deep breath. "It's Greg Andrews. He was found dead in his apartment last night. He was murdered over the weekend."

Laura stood there for a moment. She slowly sat down in her chair starring at Mohinder in disbelief.

----

Audrey Hanson slowly walked around Greg's apartment looking for any evidence. There was a knock at the door as Matt Parkman walked in.

"Need a cop?" He asked her.

"Ex-cop" She smiled.

"Whatever." He replied. "What'cha got?"

"Well, no breaking and entering, no finger prints, no signs of struggle, knife clean through the skull…what does that sound like to you?" She asked looking at him.

"Sylar?" Matt replied.

"You got it." Audrey replied shaking her head. "That poor girl. I think we all thought he had changed, but this confirms he never will."

"I thought Mohinder was supposed to break the news to her." He responded.

"He hasn't been able to talk to her for more than 5 minutes at a clip and each time has been inappropriate." She said thoughtfully.

Matt shook his head. "Dammit! That bastard has ruined so many lives. Thank God he is going to be dead soon!"

"Well, Peter seems to think he is remorseful about his deeds." Audrey replied.

"Yeah…look at Mr. Andrews head and you tell me that he is remorseful." Matt said angrily.

"Hey, I'm not condoning his actions." She shrugged. "But he came to Peter after he committed this murder. You gotta admit it takes balls to ask to be put to death to protect someone you love."

Laura walked in the door followed by Mohinder.

Audrey turned and looked at her. "You must be Laura Ryan. Audrey Hanson, FBI. This is Matt Parkman, formerly LAPD. He's helping me out today."

Laura nodded at them both, still crying. "What about his dog and his cats?" She asked through her tears.

"They went to the SPCA. Somebody already took the dog. I'm sure the cats will find homes too."

Laura looked around the apartment like she was looking for something. She looked at something in the one of the plants.

"So this was done by Sylar?" She asked

"We think so." Audrey answered her.

Laura continued to cry. "He was looking into finding out who this Sylar was to help me. He wanted to protect me from him." She turned and looked at Audrey. "Do you have any idea how much of a bitch I was to him? I kept scoffing every time he would talk to me about it. I would laugh off any of this information about Super Genomes, powers and the arch-enemy serial killer. He took it completely seriously and I just got annoyed. Maybe if I had paid better attention..."

"Maybe Sylar would have killed you." Audrey said touching her shoulder. Laura turned and looked at her. Then she continued her search around the apartment.

"Maybe you shouldn't be here." Audrey said gently.

"Where else would I be?" Laura asked her.

"Miss Ryan, may I ask you what you are looking for?" Audrey asked her. "This is a crime scene."

"And you are former FBI, agent Hansen." Laura responded matter-of-factly. "I know the crime scene was already investigated last night. So you are trespassing, just like I am. Now are you going to let me look around, or do I need to get a hold of the San Francisco FBI?"

"She's good." Audrey said to Mohinder. Then she whispered "Have you told her yet?"

"No." He looked at her incredulously. "I didn't feel telling her that best friend was just murdered in the same breath that her fiancé is a serial killer was too appropriate. Do you?"

"Ok, your right." Audrey replied. "Well, they way it is all going down, it looks like we won't have to break the news to her. Bennett wants her to be brought in. He is sending The Hatian and Candice here now as we speak."

Mohider looked astounded. "I thought this wasn't going to happen until tonight?"

"Sylar called Peter this morning." She told him. "When Laura left for work this morning, he wanted to get it over with."

"Is he dead yet?

"Not yet." Audrey answered. "They are waiting for her to arrive."

"What?" Mohinder almost shouted. "Why prolong the agony? What is this solving? It's not going to change things?"

"Will you lower your voice!" She reproached him. "I don't disagree. But it appears that it is all part of the "bigger plan" they keep talking about, so we'll just do what we normally do and play along."

Laura kept searching the apartment. Matt approached her hoping to assist. "Nanny Cam?" He whispered to her.

Laura turned and looked at him. "I didn't say that out loud." She looked angry at him. _"How did you know that's what I was looking for? _She thought to herself, testing him.

"Because I am like you Laura." He told her.

"_You can read thoughts?" _

"Yes, I can. If there is anything you don't want agent Hansen to know, I will read your thoughts." He whispered to her.

"_I am looking for the nanny cam he installed the other day. It is motion activated. If it was on while he was being murdered, then we know if Sylar killed him or not._

"Laura." He came in close to her and whispered. "Maybe you don't want to see this."

"_I have to know. Can you do something about Frau Blücher over there? She's making my skin crawl!."_

"She's not so bad once you get to know her." He whispered. "But Laura, this is not a good idea."

"_I have to see the face of the man who killed my friend and may even be after my powers."_

"Ok." He said. "I guess you need to do whatever you have to do." He warned her. "Hey Audrey...can you help me get my crime bag out of the back of my car?"

"You're a big boy Parkman." She glowered at him. "You can do it."

"It's a big bag." He protested.

"Fine." She turned to Laura. "Don't touch _anything_."

"Whatever." She replied.

As Audrey and Matt walked out the door. Laura ran to his laptop. Sure enough he had the nanny cam ran to his laptop.

Sitting down, she logged in. Working quickly she started looking through the dates the cam had uploaded to his computer. "Here we go…Saturday." She double clicked the icon.

She fast forwarded until she found what she was looking for. Greg answered the door.

To her shock, Michael walked through the door.

Laura's heart sank. Leaning forward, she turned up the sound.

The whole scene played out before her. She heard every word. She could hear the evil in his voice. Right until the moment he sent the knife piercing Greg's head.

As the footage showed Sylar destroying the evidence, two large tears fell on the keyboard.

Mohinder walked back in the room in the same instant as Matt and Audrey.

"Oh God!" Audrey shouted watching Laura view the footage of her lover murdering her best friend.

Mohinder approached her, touching her shoulder. She sat in shock, her face wet with tears.

"Laura, I am so sorry you had to find out this way." Mohinder said to her.

She looked up at him. "You knew?" She said in horror. Turning to Matt and Audrey. "Did you know too?" Her voice shook as she spoke.

Matt and Audrey both nodded.

"You all knew that the man I love…is a killer?" She looked at them all with disbelief in her eyes. "My God! If I had known this when you came to the pub, maybe Greg would be alive now. And you didn't tell me."

She fell to the floor sobbing in anguish. "Michael." She whispered. "How could you?"

"Laura." Audrey approached her. "You need to come with us." She tried to help her up.

"Get away from me, bitch!" She screamed shoving her away. She stood up.

"My God! It has all been a lie!" Closing her eyes in disbelief. "I don't understand. Did he come to kill me too?"

Mohinder tried to console her. "Laura, he really loved you..."

"_Loved me?" _She shouted, tears streaming down her face. "He _knew_ how much Greg meant to me. He was my brother! He couldn't do this if he loved me"

She put her hands over her face. "My God, it all makes sense now. Greg must have figured it out and tried to call me. I left my cell at home on Saturday morning…Michael…" She closed her eyes blinking back tears, and then opened them again. "Sylar must have intercepted the call and came to kill him. He didn't want me to find out, so he killed Greg and destroyed the evidence."

"Laura, I know this is painful for you…" Audrey tried again to approach her.

"Ya THINK!" She screamed! "Don't even think of coming near me! You all knew what he was!" The tears flowed from her eyes, her heart breaking. "You KNEW! How could you let me fall in love with that monster? My GOD I loved him so much! And he was nothing but a goddamn murderer! And you all KNEW! You knew and you did nothing!"

She backed up toward the door. Before running out she turned around.

Pointing at each one of them. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Just stay the hell away from me."

They all stood there watching; devastated, she ran out the door.

END OF PART XI


	13. Chapter 12

Tortured Souls

Part XII - Betrayals

It is said that running can heal a broken heart. How many miles until the hurting stops? Was there enough room on the planet to ease all the pain in her heart? And who will be there when she finally stopped?

But it was the cold, dark bay that stopped her and all that surrounded her were homeless and tourists. She could not run any further and she was alone. The hurt did not stop. Again, the tears fell.

She looked out over the water of the bay. Night was falling. Her mind was raging; she felt herself loosing control. Looking at the people around her she wondered why did they all get to be happily going on about their lives when her world was falling apart.

The water of the bay brought back memories of the night before. He held her close and asked her to marry him; to join their lives together. She didn't even hesitate to say yes. God, she loved him. He was her whole world. She was going to spend the rest of her life with him. But it was all a lie; an illusion. Was anything real anymore? Would it ever be again?

How did it come to this? She closed her eyes. Did he ever really love her? She tried to block out visions of his dark eyes that liquefied her in his gaze. What power did he have over her that she could love him so much and not see the evil that dwelled within?

The tears spilled heavily again. Again she began to run not stopping again until she reached the BART station. She boarded the train to City Center and headed home.

Alone in the train car, she closed her eyes. In her exhaustion she began to fall asleep. She dreamed again of the dark man. He stepped out of the darkness reaching for her. She stood and stared at his face. "Sylar." She hissed at him. She stood toe to toe with him, ready to fight. The evil in his eyes leered at her from within. She raised her bo and hit him in the stomach and as he doubled over in pain, she came down once again and hit him in the back of the knees. He stood up again laughing at her. "You can't fight me Laura. You never could." His hand reached out and sent her flying against the wall. She fell to the floor.

He continued to taunt her.

"You see Laura, you are _weak_!" He sneered angrily at her. "And you are supposed to be the "chosen one"! What kind of sorry ass excuse for a warrior are you? You can't even fight your own demons! But it doesn't matter now…your power is mine! Now I will be invincible!" Raising his finger, she felt a sharp pain starting in her head. "HE IS RIPPING MY HEAD OPEN!" She screamed from inside herself.

She stood up, her hand in the tigers claw formation. In a rage of fury, Sylar flew backward across the room falling hard on the floor. She laughed at him in return.

She walked slowly toward him. "See, you, can't kill me either, _LOVER_." She scoffed at him. "I am darkness and I am light. I am pleasure and I am rage. I can kill you where you stand!" She threw down her bow and began to approach him. She could feel the wrath within her pulsating as she approached him. It consumed her. She felt alive and she liked it. As she stood over him, she looked in his eyes. She could see he was afraid.

All at once, from behind her there was a bright light. From out of the light she could see a figure standing there. She shielded her eyes as the figure approached her. She could see him clearly now. Michael stood before her as he had the last time she saw him. Laura starred at him paralyzed.

"Laura." He said softly to her. "Don't' do this. You are good. Hatred and murder is a very dark place. You don't want to be like him."

She could hear Sylar behind her seething with malevolent laughter. "Don't listen to him, Laura. It is all a big lie. Look where being on the side of the good got you. Angry. Afraid. And alone in your darkest hour. Everyone you have ever trusted has left you. And they will continue to betray you."

Michael stood in front of Sylar. "Don't listen to him Laura! He is a liar! All seems dark right now, but you need to stay in the light. Do not listen to him. If you turn to him, your heart will grow dark forever."

"Laura, he's not even real!" Sylar mocked him. "Don't listen to him. He betrayed you worse than anybody!"

"Laura, no!" Michael tried to reach out to her. "It was he that betrayed you!"

"I have never lied to you Laura." Sylar stood before her. "I have always said I was going to kill you, but he is WEAK! Just like you!"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM , LAURA!" Michael shouted.

"DON'T TRUST HIM, LAURA!" Sylar shouted back at him.

Laura reached down and picked up her sword. Removing it from the sheath, she circled them both. She looked Michael in the eye. She looked Sylar in the eye.

Standing back, she looked at them both. Then in rage, she swung her sword with all her strength.

She woke up screaming. She was perspiring; her heart racing. Closing her eyes, she thought about her power over Sylar. How she loved it. She was alive in the moment.

She sat back in her seat deeply disturbed by her dream; yet she found herself desperately wanting to feel that power.

----

* * *

Arriving at her apartment Laura burst through the doors and up the stairs. She ran into her apartment looking for him. Zeus playfully greeted her, but he was not there. Grabbing her keys, she ran down the hall to his apartment. 

It was completely cleaned out. There was nothing left of him there.

She stood there a moment. The tears fell. Falling on the floor, she lay there crying. She raged and cried until there was nothing left; only an empty place inside where he once lived in her soul. She felt numb inside. She could not feel anger, hatred, love or devastation right now. Only emptiness.

Vacantly, she walked back down the hall. She was not prepared for the visitors she found when she walked inside.

There stood a tall black man and a pretty young dark-haired woman was standing there holding Zeus. They looked at Laura expectantly.

"Who are you people and how in the hell did you get in here?" She demanded angrily. "And give me back my dog.

"Laura" The young woman spoke handing Zeus back to her. "We are here to help you."

"Look, if you're here to save my soul from eternal damnation, you're too late." She replied vacantly. "Just leave your publication on my doorstep and just leave me the hell alone." She walked past them and flopped herself down on the couch.

"Miss Ryan, I'm afraid you don't quite understand." The girl continued. "You need to come with us."

"Ok!" Laura stood up. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, so I will speak slowly and use small words…get…the…fuck…out…NOW!"

They stood there looking at Laura than at each other.

"ARE YOU STILL HERE???" She asked them in disbelief when they didn't run out the door. "Look, I really don't mean to be rude, but I am having a really…bad…day. So I will ask you politely once again to please _leave_. Because you _really_ do not want to piss me off right now."

"Laura, I'm afraid you will learn your powers will not work with us here. My friend here has you blocked." The girl said laughing in a tone that made Laura angry.

"Really?" Laura replied tauntingly. "Is that right? Let's see if he can block….THIS."

Laura walked over to the Haitian, looked him in the eye and kicked him squarely in the balls. He screamed in pain and doubled over to the floor. Recovering, he tried to stand up and subdue her, but she just smiled and gave him a chop to the side of the neck and an elbow to the back. He fell to the floor unconscious.

She stood in front of the girl looking menacingly at her in the eye. She smiled. "Would you like to be next, my pretty?"

Candice found herself standing in fear. "My God!" She thought to herself. "I don't think anybody realized she is this powerful? The Hatian is no match for her."

Laura picked up Zeus and ran out the door.

Candice picked up the Nextel and called Noah Bennett.

"Bennett, this is Candice." She began angrily. "We have a monumental big ass problem! Laura Ryan is immune to our powers! We can't subdue her. She has temporarily disabled the Haitian and has taken off on foot. She is very dangerous right now. She is beginning to turn dark."

"Oh…SHIT!!!" Bennett shouted. "Do not…I repeat…do NOT let her get away. We need to bring her in." Thinking for a moment. "Ok, look…go after her. I'll have Molly track her. I'll get a hold of Matt, Audrey and Mohinder. We need her. Keep your Nextel up and stay in contact!" He hung up. "Dammit! He shouted.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * *

Laura ran to the market place. "We can hide here for a while." She told Zeus letting him down off his leash to run. "Hopefully by the time we get back they'll be gone. I don't think they'll be coming back for round two anytime soon."

She looked up and saw them walking around the market place looking for her. The tall man spotted her. "Oh, fuck me!" She shouted. Grabbing Zeus she ran toward the water front.

"She's heading toward the water front." Candice shouted to Matt into her Nextel. "You are looking for a Caucasian female, brunette in her late 20's, about 5'8" tall, 130 pounds. She is wearing blue jeans, a tank top with a purple, blue and green plaid flannel shirt over it. She is carrying a black puppy. Do NOT let her get away. Surround her!"

Laura ran down the running path heading toward the docks. Suddenly a large black SUV blocked her path. She stopped in her tracks. The FBI agent and the police officer that was at Greg's apartment got out and approached her. She saw Mohinder Suresh get out on the other side."

"Laura, it's alright." Agent Hansen told her. "We aren't here to harm you. You need protecting and we need you to come with us."

Matt Parkman slowly started walking toward her. "It's ok. I'm putting my gun down. Now let's talk."

"The was the biggest mistake you've made today.." Laura promptly kicked him in the face. She turned and started to run. The tall man and the girl were right behind her. "Well, you appear to have me in a stalemate." She said dejected. "But you know what? I bet you weren't expecting THIS!" She jumped up in the air hovering above them then did a triple flip, hitting the ground running.

She came to a stop. Kiyoshi Yamagati was standing in front of her.

"Mr. Yamagati!" She cried running to him, embracing him. "You gotta help me! These people are after me. They are trying to take me with them. Everything is falling apart. Please help me." She sobbed.

"It is ok, Renshi. You are safe." He comforted her. "Someday I hope you will forgive me for what I am about to do, Laura."

Laura looked at him in shock. Before she could protest, he took a hypodermic needle and jabbed it into her shoulder. She felt weak. "Et tu, Kiyoshi?" With hatred in her eyes, she fell to the ground unconscious.

As he looked at his former pupil lying on the ground unconscious, he shook his head in despair. "I am sorry Renshi, but we need to save you from yourself." He stood somberly .

The others approached him. "You did the right thing, Mr. Yamagati." Candice took his hand. "We have no choice. She is dangerous to everyone around her right now."

"Yes." He replied. "We are saving her from herself. But who is going to save us from her when she learns the truth? We cannot let her go dark."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * *

In solitude he lay there, waiting to die. "What is taking so damn long?" He asked to himself. He thought for sure they would have killed him immediately, but he had been sitting in this cell all day.

When he arrived this morning, he expected to be at the paper factory he was taken to before. But this place was different…and he kept smelling pizza.

In his minds eye he saw her face again. He tried to close his eyes to not think of her again. "She probably hates me by now." He sighed.

From far away he could hear footsteps. They walked slow and determined as they came down the hall, getting closer and closer until the stopped in front of his cell. The door opened.

He turned to face what he thought was his executioner.

But that was not who it was. This was much worse.

"Hello Michael." Laura stood there before him, her eyes dark and cold, armed with weapons, ready for battle.

He stood there and waited for the pain.

**End of Chapter 12**


	14. Chapter 13

**Tortured Souls**

Part 13 – Gloves Off

Was he dreaming again? Closing his eyes, hoping she would not be there when he opened them. But there she stood. Eyes on fire. The green pools of emeralds that used to look at him full of love full of hatred and contempt. He could only look at her; he could not find his voice to speak.

Circling him, her eyes were focused and fixated on him. How he wished he could ease her pain; to hold her again. But the look in her eyes said it all; her love for him was dead and would remain dead forever.

Finally, she began to speak.

"So, it was all a lie. You. Us." Reaching in her pocket. "THIS!" She threw the ring he gave her in his face at such a force it cut his right temple. Touching his wound he brought back a hand full of blood.

She continued. "When you just happened to show up that day you moved in; the night we..." She closed her eyes taking a deep breath. "you came to kill me, didn't you. Please don't' lie to me." Her voice was slow and quiet.

He took a deep breath. "Yes Laura, I came to kill you."

Holding back tears, she continued. "Oh my God." She shook her head. "It all makes sense now. You killed the real Michael Walsh, took his name, his power and you came to kill me next. But my powers hadn't evolved yet, so you just waited." She turned and looked at him. "So tell me…did you use your powers on me…to make me love you so much? Did you…Sylar?" She whispered his name loathingly.

"No!" He shook his head. "I have never used my powers on you. What you and I had was real, Laura. I took one look at you and, my God, I loved you the second I laid eyes on you."

"I don't believe you." She whispered, her eyes filling up with tears. "Just tell me you used your powers on me. You seduced me…anything." Standing against the door, she lifted her eyes crying now. "How else, could I have loved such a monster? How could I have let you ever touch me?" She whispered looking at him.

"Laura…" He began to speak, but she cut him off.

"And what about Greg?" She stared at him in anger, her voice getting stronger. "He was the kindest, sweetest soul in the world. My best friend. He was a brother to me! How could you say you love me and murder my best friend?"

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. "I wish that had never happened. He found out about me. He found pictures of me from a law enforcement official he was working with. He called you that morning you went into the office. I answered the phone. He offered to come by, I told him I would be in the city with a client. I went to his house…you know the rest."

"And I found out a few days later anyway." Shaking her head at him in disbelief. "Oh, you destroyed the evidence alright, but what you didn't know was that he had a nanny cam installed to spy on his dog sitter. Laura looked away from him. "How do you think I felt when I watched whole thing play out right in front of my eyes? What do you think it did to me seeing the man I loved, _kill my friend_!"

"Oh God, Laura..." He started, shaking his head in sadness, tears in his eyes.

"SAVE IT!" She shouted, sneering in anger. "So tell me, did he beg for his life?"

"No." He answered her. "He stood toe to toe with me. Not once did he back down. He died standing on his feet."

"Probably because he never saw it coming, you sick, twisted, son of a BITCH!!!!" She shouted at him as she kicked him in the lower back.

He fell to the floor from the force, but quickly got up and stood there. She turned and kicked him in the stomach making him fall again in pain. Again, he stood up.

"What's the matter?" She taunted him. "I thought you were a bad-ass killer man! Don't you want to fight me?" She grabbed him by the collar head-butting him, then throwing him to the ground.

"You do whatever it is that you need to do to me, Laura. I owe you that. But I will not fight you." He responded sadly as he stood up again. "But baby, you don't want to do this. If you kill me it will turn you into something dark and evil. You are too good for that Laura."

"_That girl is dead!_" She screamed side kicking him in the chest sending him against the wall. "She died the day her whole world fell apart. Sylar killed her!" She spoke in anger through gritted teeth. Before he could get up, she kicked him again from the back causing him to fall on the floor. Again, he stood up, covered with blood. The pain he felt in his body was no match to the pain in his heart.

"So, the big proposal…the ring…the dog." She stood over him. "Why?"

Tears were now streaming down his face. "There was nothing I wanted more than to make you my wife." He whispered. "I wanted to give you a family. But I knew even the first time I made love to you I would never be able to have that life with you. It was the last night I would spend with you. I wanted to somehow leave my love for you immortalized in this world. My heart was breaking because I knew I would have to leave you in a few hours. "

"You BASTARD!" She shouted in a deep and menacing voice that sent him flying against the wall. He stood and looked at her in fear. He knew that voice too well. It was the evil taking control of her soul.

"Laura, please don't do this!" He pleaded with her. "I don't care about me, I deserve to die and before the night is over, I will be dead, but please, don't be the one to kill me." He walked toward her. "You are everything in this world that is wonderful, pure and good. You are sweet, kind and beautiful. Please don't let your hatred for me consume you; don't let this turn you. Don't become somebody like me."

Spinning around she rose above him, kicking him in the side of the neck. He let out a scream. Recovering, she recoiled and kicked him in the face causing him to fall backwards hitting the cot.

Lowering herself, she turned to him. "It's a little late for that, _lover_!" She seethed walking toward him picking up her sword. "Lets go, bad boy!" She took her sword out of the sheath. "Why don't we play a game. Lets see who can open who's head first! It'll be fun!"

He stood up crying. "Laura, please! Don't become this. God knows I have hurt you in the worse way I ever could. I know how you must hate me. You are hurt and feel betrayed. But once the hatred consumes your soul, there is no turning back. Please Laura." He stood up

"Oh, big-bad Sylar don't look so tough, right now, does he." She laughed forebodingly. "Common! Let's see what a bad-ass you really are! Can you kill me, before I kill you?"

She raised her sword, coming down on his head.

"_LAURA! I LOVE YOU!"_ He screamed grabbing her sword before it hit him.

Laura stopped. She closed her eyes; when she opened them again, she looked at him. Letting go of her sword, she fell to the ground. Again she looked at him, horrified by what she had done. Once again her eyes were green. Her eyes filled up with tears.

"I'm sorry, Michael." Once again her eyes were the beautiful green emeralds he remembered; filled with love for him. He stood and walked toward her.

But in flash…she vanished.

* * *

She awoke sitting up with a gasp. She had astral projected herself again. Looking around her, she was in what appeared to be a hospital room. A young blonde woman a little older than she sat by her side. 

"Hey, welcome back." Laura backed away from her. "Its ok." The woman said stroking Laura's hair. "You're safe here. I know you're afraid, but we won't hurt you."

"Who are you?" Laura asked her.

"My name is Niki Sanders." She had a kind smile. Laura liked her right away. "You don't know me yet, but I know all about you."

"Where is my dog?" She asked looking around.

Niki smiled. "My son Micah is taking care of him. He's in good hands."

"Thank you." Laura stood up. "Where is Michael?"

"You mean Sylar?" Niki asked her.

"Yes, I have to go to him." She began to cry.

"You can't see him right now." She told her. "Im sorry."

"I have to! I just left him" She pleaded with her. "Please. I have to go to him again. I just tried to kill him!"

"I'm sorry Laura, I can't let you do that." She stood up pushing Laura down on the cot.

Laura sighed. "Don't you people know by now that your powers are useless on me?" She looked at Niki. "I'm sorry…you're very kind and I really don't want to do this…" She kicked Niki firmly in the chest sending her flying into the metal cabinets across the room, falling to the floor unconscience . Laura checked to make sure she was ok. She had a pulse and no open wounds. "Im sorry." Laura stroked her head gently before quickly running from the room.

* * *

Looking at her surroundings, she saw nothing but hallways and doors. One looked exactly like the other. She turned coming to a sudden stop. At the end of a large hallway, she saw him standing there. He was as handsome as he was the night proposed to her. She wanted so much to run into his arms. She began heading toward him, then came to a sudden stop. 

He spoke to her. "Laura. I love you. Please let me hold you one last time." But the air around him kept shifting. She smiled and shook her head. She could see right through Candice's illusion as she got closer.

"Ok look…what is your name again? Candice? Well, Candice, from what I have gathered, you seem to have this really cool power where you are able to elude people's visions. But you obviously you have really bad short term memory, or you would recall that your powers have absolutely no effect on me, because quite frankly, you look like you're trying to come on to me. So you're little game to convince me you are Sylar…_not working honey!_ And, another thing...while I was taking a nap, courtesy of your little posse earlier I astral projected my self into his holding cell and kicked his ass. He is probably bloody and bruised from our encounter."

Laura took a few steps toward her.

"Can I just confide something in you, woman to woman?"

"Yeah, sure." Candice replied sarcastically. "Why not?"

"I just found out that the love of my life is really a serial killer who eats brains…who by the way just killed my best friend in the entire world. And if that doesn't suck enough for you, I find out he tracked me down in the first place to kill me too. So to put it bluntly, I am having a REALLY shitty day! But Candice…if that doesn't convince you to let me see him…I am also a 4th degree blackbelt and I can kick your sorry ass so hard, your ancestors will feel it! Oh…and I have a really gnarly case of PMS!"

Laura put her hand on Candice's shoulder.

"So now ask yourself, Candice…are you really sure you want to fuck with me right now?"

Candice took in a deep sigh. "Ok, here's the thing. He is going to be executed tonight at midnight."

"What?" Laura turned white. "No! Candice...please! I have to see him. Please tell me where I can find him!"

"If you take this hallway to the end, then make a right, and go left through the double doors, at the end of the hallway you will see a holding cell. He's in there. You better hurry. It's 10:35 pm."

"Thank you." Laura smiled sincerely at her. She took off running.

* * *

Laura went the way Candice had told her. So far, so good. Everything was as she said it would be. As she turned the corner, she came face to face with a young man about her age. Laura stopped dead in her tracks. 

She had never met the man before, but there was something about him that was strangely familiar. She looked at him and he returned her stare.

"Laura." She heard him say.

"Peter." She somehow knew the man's name.

"_She is looking for Sylar."_ She heard him say, but the voice was inside her head.

"What did you do to me?" She said allowed.

"I can read thoughts." He answered her.

"I can hear your thoughts." She answered astonished. "I have not been able to do this before."

"_How did you know my name?" _He asked her telepathically.

"_I don't know...I just did." _Astonished, she responded the same. "_How did you know my name?"_

"_It just came to me." _He answered._ "What is happening here. This is really weird...even for..."_

"_People like us." _Studying his face._ "We have never met before, have we?"_

"_No." _Looking back at her._ "I would have remembered._

"_Peter, please help me find him." _She began to cry. "_I know what he has done, but I need to see him. May God help me, but I still love him."_

"I'll take you to him." Peter said aloud. Laura felt at ease with him immediately. Like a kindred spirit.

"Thank you, Peter." She smiled.

"But Laura, there is something you need to know; before we go in there." Peter looked her directly in the eye.

Laura turned and looked at him. "Yes, I know. He is going to die tonight." 

"Yes, he is." Peter took a deep breath. "But Laura, we didn't take him in. He came to me and asked to be put to death." 

Laura stared at him in shock. "What?" She whispered in disbelief.

Peter nodded and continued. "The day he killed your friend Greg, he didn't go on a business trip like he told you. He came and found me that night. At first I was going to kill him where he stood. He has done nothing but cause pain for my family and he has killed so many people I know."

"I'm sorry." She replied thoughtfully.

"But Laura, when he came to me, he was devastated. He was remorseful for all of the murders and especially killing Greg..." Taking a deep breath. "and he asked me to kill him. At first I refused to listen to him. The first thing I did was throw him against the wall. You see...he and I have similar powers..."

"I know." She replied knowingly. "You can absorb powers. I can feel you absorbing mine as we stand here."

"Yes...that's right." Peter answered her astonished at their connection. "Anyway, I used my power and threw him against the wall. He didn't fight me back."

"Well, that explains where he really got the bruise from." Remembering back to that night.

"I bruised him?" Peter asked.

Laura nodded. "He told me he got it getting on the plane."

"Wow!" He continued. "I guess he is human after all...anyway, I finally heard him out." Peter closed his eyes. "If you could have only seen him, Laura. His heart was breaking. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you, but he knew after he killed Greg he lost all chance of redeeming himself. And when you first came into your powers, he was so afraid he was going to kill you. He fought his demons, but he was so afraid of killing you. He knew he had to protect you."

Laura shook her head. "So that's why he was acting so crazy that night." Thoughtfully she remembered. She looked at Peter. "The night he saw me first astral project."

"He loved you Laura." Peter told her. "You have no idea how much."

"So there's more to your story? She prodded him to continue.

Peter took a deep breath continuing. "Yes, there is. He asked me to take every memory of him out of your mind so you would never remember he ever existed."

She looked shocked. "What?" She asked him weakly.

"He could never bare to leave you and he didn't want to live in a world without you." He replied.

Quickly, Laura shook her head in disbelief. "I don't understand. You say you were going to erase my memories...how?"

"When you came home there were two people in your apartment. The man, The Hatian, has a power; he is able to remove exclusive memories from people. He was going to remove your memories of Michael. And then you would of woke up in a hospital and not remember the last 3 months. You would of been lead to believe you were in an accident. But you were way too powerful for him. He could not even subdue you." Peter laughed. "You kicked his ass."

Still confused, Laura continued. "So, that's why you brought me back here."

Peter nodded. "See, he wanted you to have the life you always wanted. He wanted you to find a good man who could give you the family you always wanted. He loved you. He knew if he left it would devastate you and he knew you would never move on. If you didn't remember him, you would have a chance to find somebody that deserved you. He didn't want to kill anymore and he didn't want to live without you, Laura."

Turning he looked at Laura. There were tears streaming down her face. "Michael." She whispered.

Peter stood before her. "He may have done a lot of horrific things, and I am not condoning what he has done. But as much as I hate him for all he has done to my family; he loves you enough to give his life for you. This proves to me there is still good in him deep inside."

Laura was weeping now. She looked up at Peter. "Peter, please take me to him. I have to see him."

Peter smiled sadly. "We're almost there. Common." He took her hand and led her down a long hallway. As they approached the door, Peter turned and looked at Laura. "Are you ready?" He asked her?

Smiling sadly, she nodded. "Thank you Peter." She said giving him a hug.

"Take as long as you need to." Peter replied hugging her back. "Nobody will be able to get in the door."

Peter opened the door. Inside Sylar stood upon seeing Peter. "Is it time?" He asked nervously.

"Not yet." Peter answered him. "But there is somebody here to see you." He stepped outside the door as Laura walked through the door.

His heart leapt when he saw her. For a moment they stood and looked at each other. "I love you." She whispered.

He smiled.

**End of Chapter 13**


	15. Chapter 14

Tortured Souls

Part XIIII – Tortured Hearts

For a moment they stood, looking at each other. He searched her face for any indication of her emotions toward him. Was she back to finish the job she had started, or was she there because somehow she still loved him? He did not have to wait long for his answer.

"I love you." She whispered. His heart stood still for a moment. Was he dreaming?

He smiled. She ran to his arms and they fell into a passionate embrace. He kissed her fervently. "Are you real?" He asked taking her face in his hands. "You won't disappear this time?"

"No." Holding his hands as he held her face. "It's me. My God, I almost killed you. I'm so sorry." She began to cry again.

"Laura, why are you here?" He asked her gently. "My God, you must hate me."

"Is what Peter told me true?" She looked him in his eyes. "Did you really come here to die; to save me?"

He nodded. "I would do it a thousand times if it meant saving you. You are the only thing in this world that has ever mattered to me. You are the only person I have ever really loved. I tried to keep the truth from you, but after I killed Greg, I just couldn't do it anymore. I had to set you free of me." He shook his head. "I can't believe you still love me knowing what I am! How can you?"

"Because when Peter told me what you did, I knew the man I loved still lived inside of you, Michael..." She shook her head. "God, I don't even know what to call you!"

"My name is Gabriel, Laura." He told her half smiling. "Gabriel Gray. I was born and raised in Queens New York. I never had a sister that got killed. I was an only child. My father may still be alive...I don't know. My mother had emotional problems and he couldn't deal with it. He left my mother when I was in high school. My mother died..." Closing his eyes holding back tears. "It was an accident, I didn't mean to kill her."

"I know." She whispered to him. "Peter told me." She stoked his hair. "So Gabriel Gray. A watchmaker from Queens, New York." Sadly, she took his face in his hands. "What happened to you Gabriel?"

"Laura, you have no idea what I was like before." Covering his face with his hands he continued. "I wasn't anything special. I wasn't handsome or anybody exciting. My mother wanted me to be special...she told me I could be President and I guess after a while her dreams rubbed off on me. Suddenly being just Gabriel wasn't good enough for me. I found out how to take people's powers from them, and Sylar was born." He laughed ironically. "Sylar...a name I took off of a watch." He looked at her. "You never would have loved me Laura."

"How can you say that?" She asked incredulously. "Do you really think I am that shallow? Do you think I give a fuck that you drive a fancy sports car or have money in the bank? That is not what I fell in love with." She put her arms around him. "Mich...Gabriel when I looked in your eyes the first time that was all I needed. I didn't see your powers. I didn't see your possessions. If that is what I was looking for in a man, I could have had my pick of the litter a long time ago, but it was you that I fell in love with. Your wonderful heart. Your soul. And I know no matter what you have done, you loved me. The man I fell in love with was you, Gabriel. And I know if I had walked into your shop to have my watch fixed, I would have taken one look at those soft, beautiful brown eyes, and those lips of yours and I would have been a goner."

"Yet it took my becoming a depraved killer for me to find you…the irony of it all." He laughed cynically.

"Gabriel, we are soul mates." She smiled softly. "I believe we would have met one way or another. Maybe in this life, this was the way it was supposed to be. But our hearts will meet again. I know it."

"You really believe in that bullshit?" He half smiled.

"Absolutely." She replied softly. "Perhaps our stars are crossed. I do not condone what you have done, Gabriel. Lord knows I still hate you for killing Greg…" Closing her eyes. "but God help me, I have never stopped loving you, I'm glad you came into my life. I have never been so happy and I never felt so wonderful every day I woke up next to you." Tears streamed down her face.

"I don't think you could ever know how much I love you." He whispered softly, stroking her face.

"Why don't you show me?" She whispered to him beginning to undress.

Looking around his dirty cell. "You really want to do this here?" He smiled softly.

"You have just a little over an hour and I'll never see you again." She replied. "What you think?"

"You make a convincing argument." He whispered pulling her in kissing her feverishly. They fell backwards on the cot as passion took control of their hearts one more time.

* * *

Tenderly he lay holding her. He knew they would be there for him soon. As much as it broke his heart, he knew he would have to let her go.

"I would do anything to be able to stay here with you and hold you forever like this, my love," kissing her gently. "but they will be coming for me soon and I don't want you here when they take me away."

"I'm not leaving you." She said firmly.

"Laura, they are going to kill me." He told her gently. "I don't want you anywhere near there."

"We need to get out of here." She stood up putting her clothes back on.

"Baby, I can't." He told her taking her in his arms. "I have done some horrible things; I have killed people and now I have to pay the price."

"We can break out of here." She was being completely illogical. "With both our powers together we are unstoppable; we can do this Gabriel."

"And then what?" He tried to reason with her. "We spend the rest of our lives looking behind us? Running away?"

"If that's what it takes! We can go somewhere and start over. Just us. We can get new identities, change our appearances. We can do this baby!" She nodded quickly. "I won't let you die, Gabriel. I love you and I won't loose you. They are no match for us. Their powers are completely useless on me."

"Laura, please get a hold of yourself." He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders. "You deserve better than to be running away for the rest of your life. Right now, it sounds fun and very romantic, but we would be spending our lives either running away from the law or the organization. There will always be people after us. I love you too much to ever put you through that."

"If you are by my side, it will be worth it." Her eyes filling up with tears. "Please Gabriel, let's go. Now."

"Laura, you have got to let me go." He whispered gently. "God knows I have loved you more than I ever thought I was capable of loving anybody in my life. But I am a murderer. A cold-blooded, ruthless killer. My God, I killed your best friend. I even struggled over killing you. Do you think I trust myself not to want to kill you again? I could have just left you, but I don't want to live in a world without you. I deserve to die" He began to cry. "You are the only thing wonderful that has ever happened to me in my entire life. You are everything that is good. I am going to die tonight. I have made my peace with God. I am ready. And tomorrow when you wake up, you won't remember I ever existed."

"Gabriel. Please." She pleaded with him. "How can you tell me I will never remember you? I have loved you with ever part of my soul. How can that just go away? How can they make me not remember loving you? You didn't live in my head, Gabriel; you live in my heart. They will never be able to take that away from me." Standing up, she walked to door. She turned and looked at him. "I won't allow this to happen."

Gabriel stood up and walked to her. He took her face in her hands and gently began to kiss her. Their kisses became stronger and he embraced her fervently, crying.

He closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Laura." He wept. "You have left me no choice."

He took his hand and pressed the pressure point on the back of her neck. She looked at him in shock, and then fell to the floor unconscious.

Bending down he held her and kissed her one last time.

"I hope you will forgive me someday Laura." He cried, gently laying her back down. "I know you won't remember me when you wake up. But I always told you that I loved you enough to give my own life for you. And today, I die so you can have the life you deserve. Goodbye my love."

He knocked on the door and Peter opened it from the other side.

"She is ok." He told Peter. "She would not let me go. It was the only way."

"I understand." Peter looked at him. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I am going to get." He replied taking a deep breath. "Will you do me one favor?"

"Name it."

"Will you always look after her for me?" He cried again. "Just look in on her from time to time and don't ever let anybody hurt her?"

"That's a given." Peter replied giving Gabriel a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Take care, man."

Peter motioned to two guards. "Please take Mr. Gray to the execution chamber."

"Thank you, Peter." Gabriel told him gratefully. Peter nodded.

The guards stood on both side of Gabriel and took him down a long hallway to await his execution.

* * *

"_WAKE UP LAURA!"_ She heard a man's voice shout at her. She was lying on the floor in Gabriel's cell, but he was no where to be found. "Oh God Gabriel! What did you do?" She cried again.

"_Laura, its Peter."_ The voice spoke to her again.

"_Where are you?"_ She stood up looking around.

"_I'm outside the door."_ Peter replied. _"I'm going to open the door. There is something you need to see."_

"_The only thing I want to see if Gabriel standing in front of me telling me it was all a big mistake and we can spend the rest of our lives together."_

"_Ok, what if I told you there may be a way to save him?" _

"_I would say open that fucking door or I am going to break it down myself."_

Peter smiled to himself. _"That's what I was hoping you would say."_

Laura heard keys in the door. Peter quickly opened the door. "Let's go!" Peter grabbed her hand and ran with her down the hall. There were two security guards laying in the hallway out cold.

"What did you do?" Laura asked hurdling over the second one.

"Same thing you would have done if you were in my shoes." Peter replied.

"Damn straight!" Laura answered running faster.

They stopped in front of a room that was marked PRIVATE. Laura looked at Peter. "Well, I'm sure they didn't mean us." She smiled mischievously.

"Even if they did, would it matter?" Peter grinned.

"I love the way you think, my friend." Laura replied opening the door.

As she opened the door, she could see Candice in the room sitting at a table eating her dinner. Quietly, Laura closed the door as not to be heard by Candice.

"Holy shit!" Laura looked at her astonished. "How in the hell does she eat like that and still manage to look good in those size 2 jeans? Bitch!"

"Don't get me started." Peter replied. "Ok, I'll go in and distract her and you go in the room over on the left. There is a file on the table that is says Pediasoltate on the tab. From here on out, we talk telepathically. Got it?" Laura nodded. "Ok, read fast. Its 11:42 already."

Peter entered the room and approached Candice. "Hey Candice! What's for dinner?" He asked her sociably. _"NOW!" _He signaled to Laura.

On Peter's signal, Laura quietly crept into the room. She found the file and began to scan it.

Laura could not believe what she was reading. "OH MY GOD!" She shouted.

**End of Part XIIII**


	16. Chapter 15

**Tortured Souls  
**Part XV – Apogee

"What the hell was that?" Candice shouted and no sooner was met with the back of Laura's fist knocking her cold to the floor.

"Well so much for the telepathy. Seriously! Could you yell any louder?" Peter groaned at her. "And I've wanted to do that forever. Why do you get all the fun?"

"Fine. Next time I'll hold her, _you_ smack her." She rolled her eyes at him. "Common. We have work to do. Now what do we do with her?"

"Lock her in the utility room." Telekinetically, Peter raised his hand sending Candice into the utility room, locking the door. Laura looked at him flabbergasted.

Back to the moment. "Peter this is unbelievable. Gabriel. Niki. You. Me. This is absolutely staggering!!!"

Peter began. "So here's the thing. After I took you to Sylar's cell I came in here and skimmed his file. I saw the blurb that as an infant, he was one of the infants with special abilities tested with Pediasoltate. Now this got me remembering I have heard of this drug somewhere before."

He pulled out Gabriel's file. "So I did a little digging and the light came on. I remember they did two series of tests back in the 70's and 80's. There were two releases of the drug which were tested on infants. The first group of infants was given the drug in 1977, the year Gabriel and Niki were born. Niki and Gabriel were both used in the project. Now Niki was the child of parents with special abilities, while Gabriel is not known to have parents with special abilities. His mother was not, but it is unknown if his father had special abilities. However, Gabriel Gray was showing signs that he possessed special abilities at the age of 5 months. He was an otherwise happy and healthy baby with no birth defects."

Peter pulled a document from the Pediasoltate file and placed it in front of Laura. "There were two mixtures of the Pediasoltate serum; X-serum and Y-serum. The children that were administered the Y-serum, flourished and developed normally. Niki was part of the Y group. But of the three children who were administered the X-Serum, two of the children eventually died and Gabriel was the only child who survived; barely."

Peter continued. "After the X-serum was given to him, his mother said he changed. He was a happy baby before the experiment, but when she brought him home, he was distant, withdrawn and never cried. A year later he started having seizures, nosebleeds and this lasted all the way until he was in his late teens. And it was then that he started having psychotic episodes. Remember all this!"

Once again, Peter opened the Pediasoltate file. "Now I found this document way in the back folded up, like somebody was hoping it would never be found. It comes from John's Hopkins Medical Center. And look at this…It is dated September 24th, 1979."

Scanning the document over, Laura read one line that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end:

_**Pediasoltate X-Serum linked to psychotic behavior in infant test subjects. **_

"Oh my GOD!!! Peter! It was the X-serum that made him this way! He never had a choice! "

"I agree. But listen to this." Peter handed her another document. Laura read a loud. "The drug was redeveloped in 1980 as Pediasoltate Zand administered antenatal to two expectant women who have been known to carry the super genome; Elizabeth Ryan and Angela Petrelli." They stopped and looked at each other.

Laura continued reading. "The children were born on _the same day_, October 24, 1980. Mrs. Ryan gave birth to a female she named Laura Grace Ryan at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco, California. Mrs. Petrelli gave birth to her son Peter Milo Petrelli at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, New York." Laura looked up.

"Hey…we're both Scorpios!" Peter smiled

Laura rolled her eyes. "Focus Peter! We're running out of time."

Laura continued. "Although it is unknown if the children carry the super genome, both children were responsive to early precognitive testing with similar responses." Laura looked up at Peter. "This could be why we are able to communicate with each other and not others…well me anyway."

"I believe so too." He nodded. "I think we have enough evidence to stop this execution…what do you think?" He looked up for her reaction, but she was already out the door running down the hall with the files in hand.

"Laura! Wait!" Peter shouted running after her.

Laura turned, but kept running. "Common…we have to save Gabriel. We can talk on the way."

As Peter and Laura ran down the hallway; they turned a corner where they were met by Noah Bennett standing in their way.

"Well Ms. Ryan. It is a pleasure to finally meet you." His friendly smile quickly turned to discontent. "It sounds like you have been giving our community a little bit of trouble since you were brought in this evening. I have heard you were a spirited one and you have not disappointed me."

"Look, can we do this later?" She replied nervously. "I really need to stop Gabriel's execution."

Noah Bennett stood in front of her. "If this execution is to be stopped, I am the one that gives the order. So, if you feel there is just cause to stop the execution, I am the one to convince." He motioned toward a conference room. "Shall we all take a seat?"

Laura and Peter looked at each other. Peter shrugged. "Fine...whatever." Laura replied. She could see the clock on the wall read 11:48pm. Only 12 minutes. _"Hang on just a little longer, baby." _She thought to herself.

They all seated themselves at around a small table. Laura noticed the tall black man that chased her down after she sent him falling to his knees. Peter introduced him as The Hatian. In jest, she waved at him, but was only met with a cold stare. Laura shrugged her shoulders and looked at Peter. "What? Something I said?"

"No, but I think if he tried to talk right now he would sound like one of the Teletubbies." Laura put her hands over her mouth, shaking with laughter.

"Ok, so what is the reason you feel we need to put a stop to this execution, Ms. Ryan?"

Laura and Peter showed Noah the files and documents showing proof that the Pediasoltate X-Serum could be responsible for Gabriel's psychotic episodes. They showed him the reports. Noah listened intently folding his arms.

He took off his glasses and began to speak. "Peter, Ms. Ryan, we are well aware of the Pediasoltate testing and we know of the effects that are allegedly caused by it...

"Allegedly?" Laura shouted. "All due respect, Mr. Bennett, but the proof is right here! The findings are good enough for one of the top medical institutions in the country..."

"The results are inconclusive." Bennet replied calmly.

"Well this looks pretty cut and dry to me." Laura shouted slamming the fil down in front of him.

"_Laura...it is not going to do any good to piss him off."_ Peter told her telepathically. _"Calm down!"_

"Look Noah, nobody has hated Sylar more than me, but I have to agree with Laura here. The government knew the serum caused psychotic behavior and they gave it to him anyway. He was perfectly healthy before the serum and then…"

"Laura, I know you were involved in a relationship with Sylar…I am sure you would you prefer the name, Michael Walsh." He said firmly. "But I disagree about him having a choice. It was his choice to murder all of those people. He did so in cold blood. This may not be the man you knew, but this was the man we all know. Even Peter here has almost been killed by him."

"I was NOT involved in a relationship with him." Laura replied angrily. "He is the love of my life. But you are correct. I did not know the man you speak of. The man I love is good and kind."

Bennett looked at her incredulously. "Ms. Ryan, do I have to remind you he murdered your good friend Greg Andrews in cold blood? Not to mention, he came to San Francisco to murder you."

"Mr. Bennett I really don't mean to be difficult, but you have the evidence right in front of you that he was a pawn in an experiment gone wrong. And I am willing to bet my life that the little organization you used to work for has been manipulating him for the last 18 months. Common, it's the perfect setup! Using a pawn to kill off the genome pool of less than ideal species. It keeps their hands clean and when the shit hits the fan, they offer up his head on the chopping block and the organization comes out smelling like a rose."

"Ms. Ryan, it is not that I don't agree with you; in fact I have been suspicious of this myself over the years. But what is missing from this theory of yours is _facts_! You don't have them! But Gabriel Gray is a confessed serial killer! Gabriel Gray has committed crimes against humanity and must pay for his crimes. He will die tonight at midnight. The stay of execution is denied."

Laura spoke firmly and calm. "I will not allow him to die. I will do everything in my power to stop it from happening."

"Then we will have to do whatever we have to do to stop you." Noah replied.

"I would love to see you try." Leaning forward, she glared at him.

"I am sorry to do this Laura, but they told me you were stubborn." He put on a pair of ear plugs and pressed a button which made a loud shrieking noise that echoed through the room. Laura and Peter both covered their ears in agony.

"Oh God! Make it stop." Laura shouted painfully.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Peter fell to the floor plugging his ears.

The Hatian approached Laura. As she was distracted, he was able to subdue her. "Not again!" Laura retorted through gritted teeth as she fell to the floor.

* * *

When Laura awoke, she was back in the same room as when she arrived. She was chained to the bed on one side. She saw The Hatian standing outside in the hallway in an effort of subduing Peter's powers. 

Laura looked at Peter. Her face was sad, defeated. He stroked her hair and smiled sadly at her. "We did everything we could, Laura. I'm sorry."

She closed her eyes thoughtfully and opened them again. Taking a deep breath, she spoke to him. "Peter, I hope you understand what I have to do; I think I am supposed to do this." Instinctively she took his hand, smiling at him sadly.

Peter could feel a warm glow starting in the palm of his hand. He looked where Laura was holding his hand and he could see her hands glowing sending a pleasurable sensation of warmth through his hand into his body. Peter closed his eyes. He felt an incredible energy come over him that he could only describe as euphoric. He looked at Laura. She was surrounded by an ethereal glow; she was absolutely beautiful, with an almost luminous look about her. The glow began to fade from her, than began to dissipate from Peter's body. Peter never felt more alive and energetic. Laura took his face and turned it toward her. Her face which only a moment ago looked radient and beautiful was now weak and pale.

"Laura?" Peter was frightened. "What did you do?" He asked her horrified.

"It's ok Peter. It's all going to be ok." She took his hand and held it against her face, whispering to him. "Remember." Then, closing her eyes, she fell into a deep sleep.

The door opened and Hana walked in. Seeing Peter sitting there next to a sleeping Laura, she grabbed another chair and sat on the other side of Laura.

Hana looked at him. "I see you two finally got to meet."

"Yes, Peter said." He looked up at Hana. "You were right. She is a handful. But she is amazing."

"Yes she is." Hana replied. "It is very sad that she has to go through this. But it won't be long now and she won't remember him."

"Are you sure about that?" Peter asked. "How can you not remember loving someone?"

* * *

Matt Parkman stood ready. He remembered the night in Kirby Plaza where he took shots at the man laying on the table before him. He took four shots, completely oblivious of his foe's abilities. Telekinesis. Sylar stopped the bullets mid-air and hurled them back at him. He nearly died from his wounds and it changed his life forever. He was no longer welcome in law enforcement. The FBI would not touch him because of his association with The Organization. 

To top off the list, Matt developed a drinking problem and went into withdrawals. He became vacant, distant. When his wife could no longer live with him, she took their 4 month old son and moved to San Diego with her sister while Matt sorted things out.

Matt had not sorted things out. He quit drinking, but his anger and hatred raged inside of him. He came to deeply hate the man he now knew as Gabriel Grey. But tonight, at the stroke of midnight, he would administer the lethal injection that would kill Gray and his problems would soon be over. "Poetic justice." Matt smiled to himself. "Let's see you try and get out of this one." He whispered to Gray.

But Gabriel did not hear him. Once again he closed his eyes and thought of her. His heart ached at the thought of having to knock her senseless, leaving her in the cell, but he knew it was the only way. As he closed his eyes, a tear trickled down his cheek.

"Do you need anything, Gabriel?" Mohinder asked him.

"Just to turn back the clock eighteen months so this never happened." He replied sadly. "But we can't make clocks go backwards, can we Mohinder."

Mohinder nodded. He opened a curtain. On the other side of the glass was an observation room. He could see people sitting there. He recognized all of them. Noah Bennett, Claude Raines, Hiro Nakamura, Niki Sanders, and Nathan Petrelli.

Mohinder approached him. "Do you have anything you would like to say? Any final words."

Gabriel nodded.

He closed his eyes to regain his equanimity. "Um…as I sit here looking at all of you, I remember there was a time I hated you all. I had no real reason for hating you. Only that you had something I didn't have, but desperately wanted. Powers. Abilities. Thanks to your father, Mohinder, I was able to find a way to take abilities from the gifted. I felt I was nothing without them. I killed people. Mr. Bennett, Mr. Petrelli, I tried many times to kill Claire the girl who could regenerate. Hiro, I killed your Charlie. I'm sorry. I hated and I took. They meant nothing to me. Then I met my very last victim. Her name was Laura Ryan. I didn't kill her. I loved her, but fate was cruel. All I wanted to do was stay with her. To be her man; to love her forever. But as much as I loved her, I knew I could never do that. Every night I began to hear the cries of my victims; I felt the pain of the ones left behind. My life caught up with me and there was no where to run. I knew the only alternative was death. "

He could no longer hold back his tears. "I know there are no words I can say to ease the pain of the families of the people I have killed. But I hope that tonight, knowing I am no longer alive in this world, will at least help ease your pain. That's all I have to say."

Midnight.

Gabriel closed his eyes. Matt Parkman approached carrying the syringe containing the serum. Taking Gabriel's arm, he administered the serum in his forearm. Gabriel lay there waiting to die.

Nothing happened.

"Mohinder, whats going on? He's not dying." Matt shouted crossly.

"I don't understand." Mohinder shook his head in bewilderment. "I gave him enough to kill a blue whale; he should be dead by now."

"Give him another dose." Noah Bennett ordered from the intercom in the observation room.

Mohinder nodded. He prepared another needle and walked it over to Matt. Once again he administered the shot to Gabriel, but as before, Gabriel felt no effects.

"He's immune to it." Mohinder announced. "This is the strongest serum there is."

Gabriel grabbed Matt's arm. "Shoot me." He demanded. Matt looked to Noah for approval. Noah nodded. "Prepare the room." He announced.

* * *

"Oh, DAMMIT!!!" Hana shouted. 

"What?" Peter jumped awake. He had fallen asleep in the chair

"She's gone!" Hana stood up. "She's astral projected!"

"DAMMIT!" Peter shouted noticing Laura's limp state. "She is going to try and rescue him. FUCK ME SIDEWAYS!!!" Peter pounded his fists on the table.

"Well, she should be safe. After all, she is almost invincible" Hana replied.

"Hana, you don't get it! " Peter shouted! "She transferred her powers to me. She does not have her protective powers! If anything happens to her, she will not be protected. She gave me her powers so she can save him!"

"Oh My God!" Hana's eyes were wide with fear!

* * *

Gabriel stood in the center of the room. Matt Parkman holding a 9mm revolver stood before him. "Please kneel with your hands behind your head." Parkman instructed him. 

Gabriel kneeled down and waited for the shots to ring out.

It did not take long. A moment later he heard the shot; but he did not feel the pain of being hit with the bullet. Did Parkman misfire? He listened, but did not hear him reload his weapon.

The only sound he heard was a familiar heartbeat. He opened his eyes in terror.

She stood before him, her hand covering her chest. She looked at him. There was blood coming from her chest. She had been shot from the back and the bullet exited the front.

"Laura?" He whispered the tears beginning.

Peter teleported into the room behind Gabriel. "_Oh God, NO_!" He shouted when he saw Laura.

"_LAURA!"_ Gabriel screamed. He tried to stand up and go to her, but was quickly restrained by Parkman!

"LET HIM GO TO HER, PARKMAN!" Peter shouted at him. Matt released Gabriel. He stood and ran to her. Pulling her close, he cradled her in his arms. "Baby, please hang on!" He stroked her face.

Mohinder came running over sitting on the other side of her. He removed her shirt and tried to stop the bleeding.

"Mohinder, please help her." Gabriel cried.

She reached up putting her hand on his face. She couldn't speak, but he could see the love and pain in her eyes. "I love you." He whispered to her stroking her. But he could hear her heartbeat slowly fading away and the strength leaving her body. But as he held her, he heard another sound coming from inside of her. He listened closely…there was a second heartbeat.

"Mohinder!" Gabriel pleaded. "Please! She's carrying a child! You have to save her!"

But Laura's hand slowly fell from his face and he could no longer hear her heart beating. Then the baby's heartbeat slowly faded away.

"Oh God!" He whispered. "Laura! Please come back to me! Please baby! Don't leave me! You have to come back". He cried as he held her to him, rocking her back and forth.

Mohinder set down his stethoscope, tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry,Gabriel. Her wound was just too deep. There was nothing I could do for her."

"NO!" Gabriel shouted. "She wanted a child more than anything in this world. She was going to be a mother. She was carrying my child! She can't be gone!"

Peter walked over to him and kneeled down beside him, crying. "Gabriel, I know this hurts, but you have to let her go."

"I'll never let her go!" He replied softly through his tears. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was supposed to die! Not her! I was supposed to die so she could have a life without someone like me." He closed his eyes. "LAURA!" He screamed. "Why did you try to save me? I was the one who was supposed to die! I was supposed to save you! You were everything good! I'm the one that was supposed to die! _IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME!_"

All of the sudden, Laura's lifeless body slowly faded and disappeared. Gabriel looked encouraged for a moment.

"She astral projected." He said hopefully. "It was her astral projected self that was shot…she is alive somewhere." He turned to Peter. "Peter, please take me to her."

Peter shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry Gabriel, but it doesn't work like that. If her manifestation is killed, she dies. There is nothing we can do for her."

For a moment he stood in devastation. Then he looked up and approached Matt Parkman. "Ok. I'm ready to die. Please. Take this away."

"No."

Everyone turned around to see Noah Bennett entering the chamber.

He continued. "Put the gun away Matt. Mr. Gray will not be dying today."

Gabriel stood in rage. "NO! That wasn't the deal!" He shouted. "You were supposed to kill me, take me out of this world. I don't want to live in a world without her!"

"Well, now it looks like you won't have to worry about it." He replied.

"Oh, nice Noah!" Peter retorted angrily. "But he's right. We made a deal with him. He has done everything we have asked him to do. We can't do this!"

"The way I see it, the rules have changed." He looked directly at Gabriel. "The power has shifted to our side of the table. I am sorry for your loss Gabriel. This no doubt is hell for you. But I hope you will remember this moment every day for the rest of your life as you recall the people you murdered in cold blood. Remember how you felt seeing the life drain from her body and maybe you will have some empathy for the families of the lives you stole while you rot away in prison."

"No!" Gabriel shouted. "Please, don't do this!"

Noah only looked at him, unyielding in his pronouncement. "You will spend the rest of your life in a maximum lockup. You will be magnetically restrained. Don't even think of ever trying to break out of there because not even you can get out of that hell hole!"

All Gabriel could do was close his eyes. He fell to the floor, his heart in anguish. The tears could no longer fell and his voice was lost. There was nothing left; only the vestiges of his love gone forever inside the fortress of his tortured soul.

**AFTERMATH **

Peter sat beside Laura's lifeless body crying. He stroked her face gently. "Why Laura?" He whispered to her.

Niki walked in and sat beside Peter. She took his hand. "I'm sorry. You got very close to her today, didn't you?"

Peter looked up at her. "I only knew her for a few hours, but we just had this connection…this energy between us. It was amazing. I feel like I am loosing my sister."

Niki put her arm around Peter, gently rubbing his shoulder. "I only met her for a few minutes…just long enough for her to kick me across the room." Niki smiled.

"She sure had a way with people, didn't she?" Peter smiled.

"It is so hard to believe she could fall so deeply in love with someone as ungodly as Sylar." Niki shook her head. "I guess she saw a side of him the rest of us didn't."

"She did." Peter replied. "He was a lost soul. I think he found himself again when he fell in love with her. You have to admit it takes guts to give your own life for someone you love."

"But here is what I don't understand; she knew she was going to astral project in and save him. Why would she transfer her protective powers to you? Those bullets would have bounced right off of her."

"Yeah, and bounced all over the place! She didn't know what she was up against, Niki." Peter replied. "The last we had been told, he was going to die by lethal injection, but somehow…I don't' know how, but the serum did not have any effect on him. They shot at him and Laura projected just as Matt pulled the trigger. I think on some level she knew she would be giving up her life for him when she went in there, and had to make herself vulnerable. She loved him that much."

The door opened. Peter and Niki looked up and Mr. Yamagati slowly walked in.

"Mr. Yamagati, I am so sorry." Niki offered putting her arm around him. "I know she was like your daughter."

Mr. Yamagati didn't say a word. He only went to Laura's backpack and removed the purple velvet bag containing the talisman. Niki and Peter looked at each other.

The door opened again and Mohinder entered the room. "What is going on?" He demanded. Niki motioned for him to keep quiet. Mohinder took a seat on the other side of Peter, watching intently.

Mr. Yamagati took the talisman and placed it in Laura's lifeless hand. The idol began to emit amber light. He looked at Peter and reached out for his hand. Peter hesitated, but gave in. He placed Peter's hand on the talisman. The same warm glow that radiated through Peter when Laura transferred her power to him returned. Peter could feel it draining from his body into the talisman. Soon, Laura's body began to radiate. The light started in her hands moving up her arms, passing through her body. The color was returning to her face.

All of the sudden, her heart monitor began to beep once again. She was alive!

Mr. Yamagati smiled at the group. Mohinder immediately began to examine her. Peter and Niki cried hugging each other.

"She is going to be ok." Mohinder smiled. "Her vitals are good and her heartbeat is strong. She is going to be in a coma while her body finishes repairing its self. I think we need to have more testing, but I am confident she will be ok. This is truly a miracle!"

Peter looked at Mr. Yamagati. "How?" He asked astonished.

"When she transferred her power to you, she also gave you part of her chi. A part of her was alive inside of you and when I transferred her power from you, her life-force again took control of her body."

Peter smiled. "This is amazing!"

"What about her baby?" Niki asked.

Mohinder moved his stethoscope to her uterus area. He moved the stethoscope around looking for a heartbeat. Removing the stethoscope from his ears, he shook his head.

"I'm sorry. The child did not survive." He replied sadly.

"Maybe it's for the best." Peter added thoughtfully. "Everything is complicated enough now. This is the last thing she needs."

Peter looked at Mr. Yamagati. "Ok, now clear this up for me. The prophecy said that she would be the one to save us from Sylar. When push came to shove, she couldn't kill him. She loved him too much. Can you enlighten us?"

Mr. Yamagati looked at Peter knowingly. "I don't know what prophecy you are reading, but it was never her destiny to kill Sylar. She did stop him. Her love stopped him. But that was never her journey."

Niki shook her head. "So what was the prophecy?"

Mr. Yamagati continued. "One day there will be a battle. You will all fight in that battle and she will lead you in the fight. She is the chosen one. But before she could become whole in her powers, she had to be worthy. She had to pass three tests. A test of wisdom, a test of courage, and a test of love."

He stood up, continuing. "Throughout her life, she was given choices. She passed the test of wisdom many times. She was born courageous and her courage has shone through many times. When her mother died as a child she showed courage. When her father died and she was left to handle his affairs, she showed wisdom and courage. But it was the test of love that she still had to fulfill."

Peter looked at him speculatively. "What do you mean? Her heart was full of love."

"When she learned that Michael was the one that killed her dear friend, Greg Andrews, and he was in truth a murderer, she took her power to a very dark place. She was a danger to herself and others. She projected herself into his cell with the intent of killing him. Her power was very dark and she was enjoying the evil that was taking her over. But in the end, it was her love that held her true and her love that saved his life tonight. She is a true warrior."

"And he is on his way to incarceration, completely unaware that she is alive." Peter said. "When she wakes up, she is going to want to know where he is."

"That won't happen." Everyone looked at the door. Noah Bennett and The Haitian were standing there. "There is one more thing to do and our job here is done."

"Is this really necessary?" Peter asked him angrily.

"This is the way it has to be." He replied dryly.

"Always morally gray." Peter shook his head.

Noah just looked at him composedly. He nodded at The Haitian to take his place.

The Haitian approached Laura. Placing his hand over her head, he closed his eyes and spoke something in French. To the onlookers, it sounded like a prayer or a chant. A moment later, he removed his hands. "It is done." He said. "She will not remember him."

"Her mind will not remember him." Mr. Yamagati said. "But how are you planning to explain the void in her heart?"

Everyone looked at Mr. Yamagati. He only smiled furtively.

----

Alone he lay in his cell, surrounded by darkness. He tried to close his eyes, but her face haunted his dreams. In his dreams she was alive again, but then he would awaken to the cruel reality; she was gone forever.

In the darkness he heard a voice whisper to him. "Michael. Please find me again." He quickly opened his eyes.

"Laura?" He whispered.

But it was only the deafening loneliness that answered him.

**END OF VOLUME I **

* * *

**Writers Notes: **

Now you really didn't think I was going to leave it like that, did you? (in my best Wayne Campbell voice...CHA...RIGHT) :-) As we speak, I am feverishly working on Volume 2 and the first chapter will likely be up this weekend.

Truth be told, this was originally only going to go 15 chapters with Laura dying at the end. But then I started thinking of all these other ideas. Besides...as I got closer to the end...I was so much in love with these characters, I couldn't just leave it there.

The second volume is going take place two years after volume 1 left off. This time we are going a little more sci-fi and not quite as romance novelish as this one was (if that disappoints you, not to worry...think of how much fun Laura and Gabriel/Michael are going to have finding each other again...and I have a reunion scripted of orgasmic perportions!)

However I gave pause to a battle that will be taking place. It is not necessairly going to be a physical battle, but a battle of wits...but yeah, there will be some kick ass action! Most of the characters will be back. Including a new OC that will come later in the story named Seth. And wait until you meet him. ;-)

For the person who said that Laura reminded them of Abigale Wistler from Blade Trinity...well you are right on! Abigale was my muse early on for the fighting sequences, but as we get into Volume 2, if you are a Blade fan (and I am a HUGE one), Laura will remind you very much of Abby. She will be distant from Bennett and the organization, but she will be a vigalante crime fighter using her powers to bring the bad guys to justice. But at the end of the night, when she returns home, all that is left is a lot of blood and bruises, and an empty place in her soul where he once lived. Will she ever remember him?

However, I need some help.

First, I need a name for the second series. Tortured Souls was definately appropriate for obvious reasons. Volume 2 will be about their journey back to each other and Laura remembering him. Every name I think of sounds too "Danielle Steel" to me; I need something edgy and appropriate. I picture the next volume with a nod to X-Men and in regards to Laura and Gabriel/Michael's romance, I will be going a little Phantom of the Opera with a little Braum Stroker thrown in the mix (if you are fans of either, you will see similarities thrown in.) Remember, he remembers her, but she does not remember him. But can you really forget a love like that?

Second, I am looking for something to call Laura's vigalante enigma. She will only be out at night. She rides a cafe racer motorcycle, wears cargo pants, little shirts, boots and a sword on her back (she will be living in New York with a weekend house in Maine). Avenging Angel is taken as are all the good ones. I also thought about The Nocturnal, but it just dosent' sound right. Any suggestions?

Thank you all who have read and supported my story. I absolutly love your PM's and feedback. And I LOVE FEEDBACK!!! Even if I don't like what you have to say, I want to hear from you...just be nice! ;-)


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